Newly appointed Vice Chief of Naval Staff P Murugesan today said, navy is extending all support in the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in conflict hit Yemen. Mr Murugesan told reporters in New Delhi that the process of evacuation has already been discussed with the External Affairs Minister and will be done through air and sea route.t
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akabaruddin said, services of INS Sumitra will be utilized to ensure the safety of the nationals who will be repatriated or evacuated by sea. Also, the Indian Navy is pressing into service two additional ships, INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash. In addition, two passenger liners with a total capacity of 1100 had yesterday left Indian waters and are travelling towards Yemen. It will take them four days to reach there and their services will be utilized as per need.
Four hundred Indian nationals have been evacuated from Yemen by the sea route and they are being moved from Aden to Djibouti. Indian Air Force has been requested to deploy two C-17 Globemaster aircraft in Djibouti to ferry them to India. The MEA 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. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, V K Singh will be flying today to Djibouti to oversee the operations there. 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.