Today in Mumbai, An IAF plane carrying 190 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen landed, in the government’s first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation. The evacuees, which included nurses and workers, among others, reached home in a special flight, thus bringing an end to their about a week-long ordeal.
The Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster, carrying them landed at around 3:25 AM at the city’s international airport here.
This was the second flight in the rescue efforts, as at 2 AM, an IAF plane carrying 168 Indians aboard, evacuated from Yemen landed in Kochi.
Defence sources said that the flight to Mumbai could not take off on time from Djibouti due to the pending paper work of the evacuees.
Many people did not have even their passports with them leading to delay in flight, the sources said.
Maharashtra Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Mehta and MP Kirit Somaiya were present the airport to welcome the evacuees.
They were part of as many as 350 Indians who reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Central Railway has offered free-of-cost travelling for the evacuees till their destinations.
The evacuation operation was a very difficult task as not much details were available with the IAF, Wing Commander Vikram Abbi, co-pilot of the flight, told media sources.
