The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said that a total number of 350 Indian nationals, who have been evacuated from strife-torn Yemen’s Aden city to Djibouti, will be home tonight.
“Braving the weather with high spirits. Indian nationals evacuated from Aden now in Djibouti. Will be home tonight,” MEA official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.
Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd.) V.K. Singh, who was in Djibouti to oversee the evacuation process, assured the evacuated people that they were safe now.
“You are safe now. Minister of State @Gen_VKSingh greets Indian nationals evacuated from Aden to Djibouti,” Akbaruddin tweeted.
An Indian Naval ship, INS Sumitra, rescued the stranded Indian nationals from Aden last night.
The evacuation operation took place amid the escalating violence in Yemen.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier stated that the government was doing everything to evacuate Indian nationals from Yemen at the earliest.
Saudi-led coalition war planes have struck pro-Iranian rebels in Yemen with the Islamic kingdom threatening to send ground troops which could potentially initiate a broader sectarian conflict in the Middle East.
Earlier, Houthi rebels backed by allied army units seized Yemen’s largest al-Anad air base on Wednesday from forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.
The Security Council had also released a statement expressing unanimous support to President Hadi, who has sought refuge in the southern port city of Aden after fleeing the capital Sanaa in February.
Instability has steadily been rising in the nation, where al-Qaeda and Islamic State sympathisers also pose a threat. (ANI)