1st batch of 278 Indians from war-torn Sudan leave for India under Operation ‘Kaveri’
New Delhi, Apr 25: Indian officials have begun the process of evacuating stranded Indians in Sudan under Operation Kaveri. The Indian embassy in Sudan has opened an embassy camp at Port Sudan to facilitate those arriving at the port from different cities of Sudan.
ArindamBagchi, spokesperson of the MEA in his tweet said "INS Teg joins Operation Kaveri. Arrives at Port Sudan with additional officials and essential relief supplies for stranded Indians."
This will boost ongoing evacuation efforts by the Embassy camp office at Port Sudan, " added further the spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs V Muaaleedharan has reached Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to lead and join the team of Operation Kaveri for facilitating and speeding up the evacuation of Indians from Sudan.
INS Sumedha with 278 people onboard departed Port Sudan for Jeddah, ArindamBagchi, official spokesperson of MEA said. From Jeddah, they will be flown to India in planes.
Earlier S Jaishankar, Ministry of external affairs said that “Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan and many more are on their way.”
The Indian embassy in Sudan asked the Indian citizens willing to leave the country to collect at some designated place with the precaution that the citizens should pay close attention to the situation and their safety and should not take any risk while leaving their safe places.
India has sent two of its air force Planes to Jeddah and navy ship INS Sumedha to Port Sudan for the evacuation of the stranded Indians in Sudan since last week, the officials said.
Earlier three Indians were evacuated by Saudi Arabia who brought out around 150 citizens and embassy people through the sea route.
Several countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan's capital as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum. The US and UK announced on Sunday they had flown diplomats out of the country.
BBC reported that the two warring sides have agreed to a ceasefire. “A ceasefire in Sudan appears to be taking effect at midnight on Monday."
It is the fourth attempt to stop the fighting which began on 15 April for a ceasefire demanding truce for 72 hours so that many countries can evacuate their citizens and civilians can buy food items.
Several countries are still waiting for a green signal from warring groups demanding assurance and security, so they can use the airport to evacuate their citizens and embassy staff. Several embassies have already closed their offices.
