Naval ship evacuates around 350 Indians from Yemen

BENGALURU: The first batch of Indians left the shores of Yemen on board INS Sumitra, the Indian Navy's off-shore patrolling vessel, on Tuesday night.

344 Indians and 40 other nationals were rescued from Aden, around 450km from Yemen's capital Sana'a.

The vessel is sailing to Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, where they will board a flight to India. However, the exact number of those on board the vessel was not confirmed by authorities.

Indians had waited through the day, bags packed and ready to move. At least 550 Indians who were stranded in Aden were informed that Indian naval ships would be arriving to sail them to safety. However, they were disheartened when the ships didn't come ashore due to lack of clearances.

Back in Sana'a, Yemen's capital, it's the second day of anxious wait for Indians. On Monday, a group of Indians including Ravi Kumar, an engineer from Bengaluru, had gone to Sana'a airport, but had returned as there were no flights. "It's Tuesday, and we've been waiting for a call from the Indian embassy about our flight, but nothing has come so far. Things are getting more frustrating as we're not able to get through to the embassy to check the status," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, there was confusion among the Indians in Aden. "Thankfully, some shops opened today (Tuesday) for a short while and we stocked up on supplies. When we were told in the morning by Indian Association members that rescue is on its way, we packed up whatever we could. I kept checking, but no Indian ships had reached the ports," said Yunus Shabandari, a Bhatkal native living in Yemen, earlier on Tuesday.

Shreedhar BR, a Bengalurean in Aden, said Indian embassy officials had informed them that Indian ships were coming to Aden. "Even the embassy was not clear about the status of the ships, and we were asked to wait. We were told that the ships cannot accommodate more than 150 people. It will be a longer wait for many of us," he said.

With guns booming too close for comfort, and fighting spreading to day time, fear is escalating in the war-torn cities of Yemen. The international media has reported at least 100 people killed in the city. "In the past two days, we've been making some desperate attempts to get exit visas for as many people in the city. But we hear there are more Indians in several other cities," Yunus said.