NEW DELHI, April 28 (PTI): India on Friday brought home 754 people under its mission to evacuate stranded Indians from strife-torn Sudan.
While 392 people arrived in New Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force, another batch of 362 Indians were brought to Bengaluru.
The total number of Indians brought home now stands at 1,360, according to official data.
“Another C-17 flight carrying 392 passengers reaches New Delhi,” external affairs minister S Jaishankar tweeted.
“India welcomes back 362 Indians as another #OperationKaveri flight touches down in Bengaluru,” he said in another tweet.
The people were brought home from the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah where India has set up a transit camp for the evacuees.
The first batch of 360 evacuees were brought to New Delhi in a commercial plane on Wednesday.
The second batch of 246 evacuees arrived in Mumbai in a C-17 Globemaster on Thursday.
Under Operation Kaveri, India has been rescuing its citizens in buses from conflict zones in Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to Jeddah in Indian Air Force’s transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.
From Jeddah, the Indians are being brought home in either commercial flights or IAF’s aircraft.
India has set up separate control rooms in Jeddah and Port Sudan and the India embassy in Khartoum has been coordinating with them and the MEA’s headquarters in Delhi.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group that has reportedly left around 400 people dead.
On Monday, Jaishankar announced the launch of Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indians from Sudan.
On Thursday, foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra said 1,700-2,000 Indians were moved out of the conflict zones.
“Our objective and target is to take the stranded Indians out of harm’s way as early as possible… Our effort is to get every stranded Indian out of harm’s way and into an area of relative safety and then to Port Sudan and back here (India),” he said.
