Updated
New Delhi, Apr 1 (IANS): Nearly 350 Indians were evacuated from Yemen's southern port city of Aden late on Tuesday, sources said.
Those evacuated included, 220 men, 101 women and 28 children. They were taken to the Indian Navy ship INS Sumitra.
Defence ministry sources said that the ship left Yemen late on Tuesday night.
The evacuated people will now be taken to Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen, and will be brought to India by air.
An official said that the ship "sailed into a barrage of bombs" to evacuate Indians stranded there.
Under an operation named "Op Raahat", two warships, destroyer INS Mumbai and stealth frigate INS Tarkash, are on their way to Djibouti, a country located on the Horn of Africa in the Gulf of Aden.
The two warships and two passenger liners Kavaratti and Corals, which left from Kochi on Monday, will join course in the Arabian Sea and move as a composite group to Djibouti.
According to the external affairs ministry, nearly 4,000 Indians are stranded in Yemen.
Puttur man stranded in Sana'a
Mangaluru, Apr 1, (DHNS): Chennappa Gowda and Ratna, residents of Kodimala in Kadaba of Puttur taluk, are worried about the safety of their younger son, Rajesh G C, who is stranded in Sana’a, the capital of strife-torn Yemen.
Speaking with Deccan Herald, Rajesh’s brother-in-law Radhakrishna said the latter had left for Sana’a on March 19 after vacationing at his native village for a month.
Rajesh has been employed with MAM International Corporation in Sana’a for the past three years. After completing his diploma at Panja Ninthikal ITI, he left for Yemen. “He called us on Tuesday morning and said normal life had been affected in Sana’a. He said that initially things were normal during the day, but shelling and artillery fire continued in the night,” Radhakrishna said.
“He is in constant touch with the Indian Embassy officials who have asked Indians to get ready for evacuation. However, today my brother-in-law said the airport in Sana’a was surrounded by insurgents and the runway had been blasted. He said it would not be possible for the flight to land to ferry the stranded people. The journey on the road to reach Saudi Arabia is also not safe. Along with him, there is a man from Bengaluru and another from Hyderabad,” said Radhakrishna.
He urged the government to bring back the Indians stranded in Yemen.
Shahul Hameed from Kasargod also stranded
Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP)
Kasargod, Apr 1: Another youth from Kasargod, Shahul Hameed, is stranded in war-torn Yemen and is facing an uncertain situation.
Shahul had gone back to Yemen only two weeks ago. As reported earlier, Odeyanchal resident Jinto Joseph is also stranded in Aden. They are among the hundreds of Keralites waiting to return home.
Many of the stranded people are unable to come out from their residences and are starving without food or drinking water. Their families back home have been spending their days in worry and anxiety.
Apart from the above mentioned persons, a six including five of a family from Bhatkal were also stranded in Aden.