Yemen crisis

Yemen crisis

Sindhu MansukhaniUpdated: Saturday, June 01, 2019, 02:49 AM IST
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Mumbai :  The Indian Navy, continuing its efforts to evacuate Indians from war-torn Yemen rescued 439 people who embarked on the INS Mumbai which reached just outside the Aden harbour on Saturday afternoon.

The evacuation process of stranded Indians was commenced amidst widespread violence in the seaport city of Aden. The situation on Saturday was especially tensed with heavy fighting going on in the city, informed the chief spokesperson for Defence, Commander Rahul Sinha.

A small craft (a small motorboat) was hired to transport the people from the port to INS Mumbai which was positioned just off Aden harbour due to certain navigational and operational reasons. “The situation in Aden was not at all conducive for peaceful evacuation on Saturday as there was violence right inside the harbour. For starters, the INS Mumbai did not get clearances to enter the Aden harbour and conduct the rescue efforts. In addition, entering a warzone without the requisite clearances apart from being risky could also be interpreted in the wrong way by the host country,” said Sinha.

Also, there was no proper place for the INS Mumbai to dock in the harbour – which could have jeopardised its safety. “If the docking place given to a ship is not proper, it can even drown,” Sinha added. And as such the craft was arranged by the officials of the Indian Embassy in Yemen to transport 25-30 people in one trip from the harbour to the ship.

One of the evacuees on Saturday was a pregnant woman who had not eaten anything for two days. She had been brought on board the ship in a very weak condition and immediately given medical help, which stabilised her condition.

The evacuation process that was started in the afternoon, ended a little after sunset. It had been decided by the Indian Navy not to conduct any rescue operations in darkness as that would have made conducting a thorough search of the evacuees before embarking on the ship difficult.

The 439 evacuees were taken to Djibouti in Africa late on Saturday night where a C17 and a Boeing 777 of the Indian Air Force were kept on standby to bring the rescued people to India. However, till the time of going to press, it was not clear by which medium the evacuees will be transported – an aircraft or a cruise ship. “The situation is such that plans don’t work like they are supposed to. Once they reach Djibouti, the safest and the most conducive method will be used to bring them back,” Sinha said.

Till date the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force together have managed to evacuate two batches of Indians, the first of 349 people that arrived in India early on April 2 and the second batch of 334 people that arrived late at night on April 3.

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