Last update: 01 May 2023, 06:51 IST
Indian nationals evacuated from violence-hit Sudan under Operation Kaveri, upon arrival at an airport in Mumbai on April 27, 2023. (Photo: PTI/Twitter)
The Indians were brought back from the Saudi city of Jeddah where India has set up a transit camp for the evacuees
The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Operation Kaveri had facilitated the safe return of nearly 3,000 people from Sudan, even as battles rage in the African country.
“The IAF C-130J flight carrying the 16th group of evacuees takes off from Port Sudan. 122 passengers on board this flight are en route to Jeddah. Nearly 3,000 people have now left Sudan as part of #OperationKaveri” , said Arindam Bagchi, official spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs.
The Indians were brought back from the Saudi city of Jeddah where India has set up a transit camp for the evacuees. On Wednesday, the first group of 360 evacuees returned to New Delhi on a commercial plane.
Giving an update on Operation Kaveri, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that around 2,300 people had reached India.
“The developments of #OperationKaveri. An Indian Airforce C-130J flight landed in New Delhi with 40 passengers. With this flight, around 2300 people reached India,” he tweeted.
India has taken its citizens in buses from the conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are taken to Jeddah in the IAF heavy transport planes and the ships of the Indian Navy.
From Jeddah, the Indians are brought home either by commercial flights or by IAF planes.
India has set up separate control rooms in Jeddah and Port Sudan, and the Indian Embassy in Khartoum is coordinating with them, in addition to being in contact with the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA ) in Delhi.
Deadly hostilities between the army and heavily armed paramilitaries in Khartoum and other parts of the country have entered their third week.
More than 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands have been forced from their homes for safer places inside the country or abroad since fighting erupted on April 15.
On Sunday, rival Sudanese forces announced the extension of a truce they have largely violated.
(With contributions from the agency)
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