India Evacuating Citizens from Sudan

KHartouM: The first batch of stranded Indians was evacuated from conflict-hit Sudan under Operation Kaveri on Tuesday. A total of 278 people departed from Port Sudan onboard INS Sumedha for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, said a spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs.

The evacuation comes a day after the MEA announced that India had launched an operation to bring back around 3,000 Indians stranded in Sudan. External affairs minister S Jaishankar had said that around 500 citizens have already reached Port Sudan. Operation Kaveri to bring back Indians from Sudan to be supervised by V Muraleedharan: PM Modi

“Our ships and aircraft are set to bring them back home. We are committed to assisting all our brethren in Sudan,” Jaishankar had tweeted. The MEA had said in a statement that India has also positioned two IAF C-130J on standby in Jeddah.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the operation is being supervised by MoS for external affairs V Muraleedharan.

Two IAF planes in Jeddah, Navy ship in Sudan were ready to evacuate Indians: Government

Describing the security situation in Sudan as complex and evolving, the Centre on Sunday had said it was pursuing multiple options to evacuate the 3,000 Indian citizens stuck in the country.

India’s decision to deploy the Super Hercules military transport aircraft followed the highlevel meeting PM Narendra Modi chaired on April 21 in which he asked officials to ready contingency evacuation plans. India had