'Air evacuation of Indians from Sana'a in Yeman likely'

The government said on Friday there is likelihood it would launch evacuation of Indians by air from the Yemeni city of Sana'a even as an Indian naval ship left the Yemeni port of Al Hodeidah with 306 Indians on board for Djibouti to be flown back to India.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted that the government is "working on all fronts" to pull out its citizens from strife-torn Yemen.

"Working on all fronts. We are making all out efforts to significantly enhance evacuation of Indian nationals from Yemen," he tweeted.

Akbaruddin said that 35 Indian nationals crossed over from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and are now in Gizan, a port city near the Yemen border. He said that MEA officials are assisting them to return to India.

He said: "If all goes well, we will be able to begin air evacuation from Sana'a."

So far, the Indian government has been able to evacuate more than 700 Indian nationals from Yemen and 350 have come back home.

"Around 2,000-2,500 Indian nationals wish to come back and we hope to significantly enhance evacuation efforts," the MEA spokesman said.

On Thursday night, 306 Indian nationals were safely evacuated from the western Yemeni port city of Al Hodeidah by sea on board INS Sumitra to Djibouti, which is on the Horn of Africa.

Defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar tweeted that one more Globemaster C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is arriving in Djibouti from Jamnagar in India.

INS Sumitra is expected to arrive at Djibouti by Friday afternoon, after which the Indians would be flown back to India.

The 306 Indians who left Al Hodeidah port, on the western coast of Yemen, comprised 251 men, 38 women and 17 children.

On early Thursday morning, 358 Indians arrived from Yemen in two airplanes - one landed in Kochi, and the other in Mumbai.