India on Sunday brought another batch of 229 people under its Operation Kaveri mission to evacuate stranded Indians from violence-hit Sudan.
The fresh batch of evacuees reached Bengaluru, a day after 365 people returned from the African country to Delhi. "#OperationKaveri One more flight brings back 229 passengers to Bengaluru," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
On Friday, 754 people landed in India in two batches as part of the evacuation mission. According to official figures, the total number of Indians returned from Sudan today stands at 1,954.
The Indians were evacuated back from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where India had set up a transit camp for evacuees. On Wednesday, the first batch of 360 evacuees flew back to New Delhi in a commercial airliner.
The second batch of 246 Indian evacuees landed in Mumbai on Thursday on an Indian Air Force (IAF) C17 Globemaster aircraft. Under "Operation Kaveri", India has been taking its citizens in buses from the conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to Jeddah in the IAF's heavy-lift transport aircraft and the Indian Navy's ships.
From Jeddah, the Indians are being brought back home in either commercial flights or IAF aircraft. India has set up separate control rooms in Jeddah and Port Sudan, and the Indian embassy in Khartoum has been coordinating with them, besides being in touch with the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in Delhi.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group that has reportedly left around 400 people dead. Jaishankar announced the launch of "Operation Kaveri" on Monday to bring back stranded Indians from the African country.