IAF C130J transport aircraft arrived at Port Sudan to evacuate more Indian nationals

NEW-DELHI: 250 Indians have been evacuated from Sudan by two transport planes of the Indian Air Force. Earlier, 278 civilians were evacuated from the violence-hit African country by the navy ship INS Sumedha. According to the official data, the number of Indian citizens expelled from Sudan has reached around 530.

India has set up a transit facility in Jeddah as part of 'Operation Kaveri', a drive to evacuate Indian nationals from Sudan. Indian citizens are being brought to this city of Saudi Arabia after being expelled from Sudan. India on Tuesday evacuated its first batch of 278 nationals from violence-hit Sudan through INS Sumedha and brought necessary relief materials to the remaining Indians stranded there.

Hours later, an Indian Air Force C130J transport aircraft arrived at Port Sudan to evacuate more Indian nationals. After this, the civilians were evacuated by another C130J aircraft. According to Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, 121 civilians were evacuated by the first C130J aircraft and 135 by the second aircraft.

Notably, India has set up a control room in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals from Sudan. It is worth mentioning here that a campaign has been launched to evacuate about 3000 Indians from Sudan. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Muraleedharan has arrived in Jeddah to oversee the evacuation operation. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that another ship of the Indian Navy, INS Teg, has joined the evacuation mission from Sudan.