Early on Wednesday morning, a C-130J of the Indian Air Force carrying 135 Indians from Port Sudan landed down in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Under Operation Kaveri, this was the third such batch to be culled from the war-torn Sudan. According to a tweet from MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, the Indian government will shortly aid the journey of these Indian people back to their home country. Another IAF aircraft carrying 148 Indian citizens made a landing in Jeddah earlier this morning.
Operation Kaveri is being operated by the Indian government to evacuate stranded citizens from Sudan, which has seen intense bloodshed as a result of confrontations between the government’s forces and the rebel RAF.
V Muraleedharan tweeted, “Third batch comprising 135 Indians from Port Sudan arrived in Jeddah by IAF C-130J aircraft. Onward journey to India for all who arrived in Jeddah will commence shortly.”
The first batch of Indians stranded in Sudan were evacuated under Operation Kaveri on Tuesday. With 278 passengers on board, INS Sumedha sailed from Port Sudan to Jeddah. India has started Operation Kaveri to rescue its citizens who are stuck in war-torn Sudan, according to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. According to Jaishankar, the government is “committed to helping all our brethren in Sudan.” Over 3,000 Indian nationals who are currently living in Sudan were claimed to be the government’s main concern.