Four hundred Indian nationals have been evacuated from the conflict hit Yemen by the sea route. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in New Delhi this evening that services of a local ship is being utilised to move these Indians from Aden to Djibouti. He said, Indian Air Force has been requested to deploy two C-17 Globemaster aircraft in Djibouti to ferry them to India. The spokesman said, two Air India flights are stationed in Muscat and will be used at appropriate time.
He said, all the nationals are safe and secured. The spokesman informed that Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, V K Singh will be flying tomorrow to Djibouti to oversee the operations there. He said, the government is making every effort to ensure safe return of its nationals and is in touch with regional leaders for their assistance in this difficult situation.
Replying to a query whether Embassy in Sana’a will be closed, Mr Akbaruddin said, the Embassy will be functioning as long as Indian requires help of it. When asked about India’s intervention in the region, he said, our first priority is to evacuate its nationals from there.
India had issued three advisories earlier, requesting its nationals to leave Yemen as soon as possible in view of fragile conditions in that country. Earlier, 80 Indians reached home from Yemen. About four thousand Indians are stranded in Yemen.