Updated

Kochi/Mumbai, Apr 2 (IANS): Over 350 Indians were safely airlifted from strife-torn Yemen, but the returnees on Thursday were apprehensive about their future and hoped they would land jobs.

India sent its biggest plane, the C-17 (Globemaster), to evacuate its nationals, 190 of whom landed in Mumbai on Thursday while another 168 went to Kochi in Kerala.

Fighting has been going on in Yemen since January 22 when the government under President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was ousted by Shia Houthi forces. This has provoked the recent military campaign by a coalition of 10 countries led by Saudi Arabia.

India has initiated a highly coordinated operation to evacuate its nationals and around 350 people stranded in Yemen's port city of Aden were brought out by Indian Navy Ship INS Sumitra.

The returnees were happy to be back home, but were concerned about their future.

"We are really happy to be with our near and dear ones," said a nurse who was elated over her safe return in Kochi.

"The bigger question is what will happen to our future... We want a job, but do not know where it will come from, as we have families to look after," said the nurse.

The number of Indian nationals in Yemen, which was estimated around 14,000 in 2010, declined to an estimated 5,000 by June 2011 following political instability and violence in the country. However, only around 3,000 Indians are registered with the embassy in Sana'a.

Most of the Indians living in Yemen comprise nurses, hospital staff, university professors, professionals, white collar workers, IT professionals and managerial and clerical staff in the private sector. A vast majority of them hail from Kerala but a few belong to other states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Kerala's Minister for Diaspora K.C. Joseph told IANS that they are in constant touch with the ministry of external affairs in Delhi and with the Indian officials in Yemen and Djibouti.

"Diplomatic efforts managed to break ice with Saudi Arabian authorities to clear the way for a free air zone to ensure our flights land in Yemen and then return through their air space.

"But talks with Iranian authorities are on as their permission is also required. There are another 2,500 Keralites including nurses and teachers," said Joseph.

The Kerala government has given a token amount of Rs.2,000 to each of them.

Recalling the horror, a returnee said: "The situation in Yemen is getting worse day by day as there are frequent bombings. Bombs were dropped around 200 metres from where I stayed. The most affected are the children."

Another returnee said: "Communications are also breaking down and then it becomes tough for Indian Embassy officials to get in touch with Indians."

Joseph said the state government will press the central government to ensure that diplomatic talks are held to ensure the return of Indians.

"Another tough ask is that nobody knows how many Keralites are there in Yemen. But the Kerala government will do its best to see how best we can help the nurses," Joseph said.

He said his government will look into providing jobs to the nurses who have returned.

"There are practical difficulties to find jobs for around 2,000 nurses, but our government will do everything possible," said Joseph.

India has also agreed to requests from neighbours Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to assist in evacuation of their nationals from Yemen.

Earlier Report

IAF planes bring home first batch Indians from Djibouti

Mumbai, Apr 2 (PTI): An IAF plane carrying 190 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen landed here today, in the government's first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation.

The evacuees, which included nurses and workers, among others, reached home in a special flight, thus bringing an end to their about a week-long ordeal.

The Indian Air Force's C-17 Globemaster, carrying them landed at around 3:25 AM at the city's international airport here.

This was the second flight in the rescue efforts, as at 2 AM, an IAF plane carrying 168 Indians aboard, evacuated from Yemen landed in Kochi.

Defence sources said that the flight to Mumbai could not take off on time from Djibouti due to the pending paper work of the evacuees.

Many people did not have even their passports with them leading to delay in flight, the sources said.

Maharashtra Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta and MP Kirit Somaiya were present the airport to welcome the evacuees.

They were part of as many as 350 Indians who reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Central Railway has offered free-of-cost travelling for the evacuees till their destinations.

The evacuation operation was a very difficult task as not much details were available with the IAF, Wing Commander Vikram Abbi, co-pilot of the flight, told PTI.

Abbi said that the crew were told about the rescue operation on March 30 and the flight departed from India yesterday.

One of the evacuees, Mary Amma Vargeese said, she was working as a nurse in a hospital in Aden for past two years. And, one day she suddenly "heard some exploding sound, after which I stopped going to work."

"All the shops were closed, we didn't have food for many days," she said.

A spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry has said of the 350 evacuees, 206 belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi, besides other states.

The Indians were evacuated late Monday night by INS Sumitra, which was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol in the region. It waited for hours to get local clearances as heavy fighting was reported in the city.

Meanwhile, Central Railway will be adding extra coaches to the trains heading towards Kerala, Chennai and Kolkata to ensure hassle-free travel for evacuees to reach their destinations.

"We would be adding extra coaches to the Kerala-bound Mangala Express, Chennai-bound Chennai Mail and Kolkata-bound Duronto Express to facilitate their (evacuees') early home going. While 60 evacuees would be travelling to Kerala, 40 to Chennai and 30 to Kolkata," General Manager, Central Railway, Sunil Kumar Sood told PTI here.

Sood said the railways have requested normal passengers who have booked tickets under emergency quota to postpone their trip by a day so that their tickets could be used for evacuees, to which they have agreed.

Meanwhile, one of the evacuees, who identified herself as Faiju, said the Yemini city of Sana'a is almost destroyed in the civil war and fighters have moved to the seaport city of Aden.

Narrating her plight, Faiju, who used to work as a nurse in Sana'a, said, "We were not given any salary. We were also made to work overtime as all the local nurses had fled our hospital," she said, adding there could be about 300 Indian people who are still stuck up in Aden.