According to officials, 38 residents of Gujarat who are among the hundreds of Indians trapped in Sudan’s violent conflict will be flown back to India as part of the Center’s “Operation Kaveri,” and a special flight carrying them will land in Mumbai after midnight.
On their arrival at the Mumbai airport, the Gujarat government will provide transportation arrangements to bring these 38 Gujarat citizens back home, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, who also handles Non Resident Gujarati (NRG) Division of the state government, said.
The Sudanese army and a paramilitary group have been engaged in deadly combat for the past 12 days; it is estimated that 400 people have died in total. India has intensified its efforts to remove Indian citizens from the crisis-stricken nation of north-east Africa.
“As part of the Centre’s ongoing Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indians from Sudan, 38 stranded Gujaratis will land at Mumbai during midnight. After their arrival, the state government will make necessary arrangements to bring them to Gujarat,” minister Sanghavi told reporters in Gandhinagar.
There are no specific details available at this juncture about the exact number of Gujaratis stranded in Sudan.
Under the Centre’s Operation Kaveri, stranded Indians are first taken to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Sudan through sea route and then they will be flown here in special flights, said V G Rore, director, Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujaratis’ Foundation under the NRG Division of the state government. “As of now, we are informed that a special flight carrying Indians, including 38 Gujaratis, will leave from Jeddah tonight and land at Mumbai during midnight. We will then make arrangements to bring them here,” Rore said.
India announced on Sunday that as part of its backup plans to evacuate the stranded Indians, it had stationed two Indian Air Force aircraft in Jeddah and the naval ship INS Sumedha in Port Sudan. The government had earlier claimed that its main concern was for the safety of the more than 3,000 Indians who were dispersed throughout the African country.