Nearly 3,000 Indians evacuated from crisis-hit Sudan under Operation Kaveri

Around 3,000 stranded Indians have left the crisis-hit Sudan for Jeddah till now, as India intensified Operation Kaveri to rescue stranded citizens from Khartoum on Friday.

The Indian Air Force C-130J flight with 122 stranded Indians, senior citizens including took off from the crisis-hit Sudan.

"IAF C-130J flight carrying 16th batch of evacuees takes off from Port Sudan. 122 passengers onboard this flight are en route to Jeddah. Nearly 3000 persons have now left Sudan under #OperationKaveri," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

"Respect and regard to our senior citizens being evacuated from Sudan. #OperationKaveri," he added.

Till now around 2300 Indians have been evacuated, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said on Sunday.

"A C-130 Indian Airforce flight has landed in New Delhi with 40 passengers. With this flight, around 2,300 people have reached India," EAM Jaishankar tweeted.

An Indian Air Force C-130J aircraft with 40 passengers onboard New Delhi from Jeddah as 'Operation Kaveri' progresses further to evacuate stranded Indians from battle-torn Sudan.

It was the 8th flight carrying Indian evacuees that took off from Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, since 'Operation Kaveri' began.

Taking to Twitter, the official spokesperson of MEA, Arindam Bagchi wrote, "#OperationKaveri 8th flight carrying Indian evacuees takes off from Jeddah. IAF C-130J aircraft with 40 passengers is on its way to Delhi."

The 7th flight destined for Bengaluru took off from Jeddah earlier today, with 229 passengers onboard. "#OperationKaveri bringing citizens back home. Destined for Bengaluru, 7th outbound flight carrying 229 passengers departs from Jeddah," MoS Muraleedharan tweeted.

On Saturday evening, 365 Indians from Sudan arrived in New Delhi under Operation Kaveri, while a flight carrying 231 Indian passengers reached the national capital on Saturday morning. As a ceasefire has been called in Sudan, several countries, including India, are attempting to evacuate their citizens from a conflict-ridden nation.

Sudan is experiencing bloodshed due to clashes between the army and paramilitary forces. Even though there is a 72-hour ceasefire, there have been allegations of violence.

Fighting has erupted between soldiers loyal to Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.