External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday informed that another flight with 246 more Indians had reached Mumbai. "Another #OperationKaveri flight comes to Mumbai. 246 more Indians come back to the motherland," he said in his latest tweet. India is in the process of evacuating some 3,000 Indians stuck in war-torn Sudan.
Till this morning, India had evacuated a total of 670 nationals from Sudan and was looking at rescuing more before the end of a tenuous ceasefire between the regular army and a paramilitary force - the two sides engaged in war since April 15.
The evacuation began on Tuesday, with an Indian Navy ship rescuing 278 citizens from Sudan. A day later, a C-130J military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force brought to Jeddah 392 Indians from Port Sudan in three flights on Wednesday.
On Wednesday night the first group of evacuees arrived in New Delhi from Jeddah in a commercial aircraft. "India welcomes back its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi," EAM Jaishankar tweeted.
Under its evacuation mission 'Operation Kaveri', India is taking the evacuees from Sudan to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah from where they are returning home.
India has set up a transit facility at Jeddah and Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is overseeing the evacuation mission from the Saudi Arabian city. The first batch of 278 Indians was evacuated from Port Sudan by the Indian Navy's frontline ship INS Sumedha on Tuesday.
The first C-130J aircraft brought to Jeddah 121 passengers while the second plane evacuated 135. India stepped up its efforts to evacuate the Indians from Sudan as a 72-hour truce was agreed to between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) following intense negotiations.
A C-17 military transport aircraft of the IAF left for Jeddah on Wednesday to bring back the evacuees from Jeddah to Mumbai. The aircraft today landed in Mumbai.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group that has reportedly left around 400 people dead.
EAM Jaishankar on Monday announced the launch of 'Operation Kaveri' to bring back the stranded Indians from Sudan.
(With inputs from PTI)