EVACUATION// India breathed a sigh of relief as the total number of Indian evacuees from war-ravaged Yemen touched 4,000. They were rescued in three air sorties and naval ships before the government decided to end the air evacuation operation. The smooth opeartion has won praise from many for the Modi government. While 600 people were rescued by state carrier Air India, over 100 others were being evacuated from Al Hudaydah by INS Turkish.

India initially struggled for days during the rescue effort, with planes from Air India sitting idle in Muscat as negotiations for a safe air corridor were on with the Saudis. Things started to look better with the deployment of MoS for External Affairs General VK Singh to a forward operations base in Djibouti from where Indian Air Force C-17 transporters picked up evacuees brought out by Air India from Aden and flying them home. India later received requests from 26 countries including the US, Bangladesh and Iraq for assistance in evacuating their nationals from the strife-torn country. Although Pakistan did not seek such help, India reached out to it too for the operation and earned kudos for its initiative. This in turn earned kudos. Many of the rescued people were nurses and workers who were trapped in Yemen when the war suddenly broke out, as Al Qaeda militants broke into Mukalla’s prison to free one of their local leaders and striking one of the border posts.

Some Indians were reluctant to leave even in the face of danger because losing their jobs would spell financial crisis back home.