Evacuated Indians reach Djibouti on way back home

The 350 Indian nationals evacuated from strife-torn Yemen have reached Djibouti and will be brought back to India by an Indian Air Force plane on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said.

In tweets on Wednesday, Sushma Swaraj said that Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh was in Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen, and was coordinating the operations with the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.

She said one IAF Globemaster transport plane with evacuated Indian nationals will land in Kochi and the other in Mumbai.

"Indian nationals evacuated from Aden by Indian Navy have reached Djibouti. They will be brought back to India by Indian Air Force today (Wednesday). One plane will land in Kochi and the other in Mumbai late this evening," Sushma Swaraj said.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that of thed 350 Indian nationals evacuated, 206 were from Kerala, 40 from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal, 22 from Delhi, 15 from Karnataka and 13 from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The stranded Indian nationals were taken to INS Sumitra and it set sail for Djibouti on late Tuesday night from Aden.

Under an operation named "Op Raahat", two warships -- destroyer INS Mumbai and stealth frigate INS Tarkash -- are also on their way to Djibouti, a country located on the Horn of Africa in the Gulf of Aden.

Fighting has been going on in Yemen since January 22, when the legitimate government under President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was ousted by Shiite Houthi forces.

This has provoked the recent military campaign by a coalition of 10 countries lead by Saudi Arabia.