The first batch of 360 Indians evacuated from conflict-ridden Sudan flew back home on Wednesday.
“India welcomes back its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted after the aircraft with the evacuees landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital.
V Muraleedharan, the Minister of State for External Affairs, earlier on the day saw the evacuees off from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Another C-17 aircraft of the Indian Navy is likely to land in Mumbai early on Thursday.
The INS Sumedha, a patrol vessel of the Indian Navy, on Tuesday ferried 278 Indian citizens from Port Sudan, the main seaport of the Northeastern African nation, to Jeddah Islamic Port of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea. Two C-130J aircraft of the Indian Air Force also flew to Jeddah 121 and 135 evacuees respectively from Sudan, according to the latest report.
The INS Teg, a frigate of the Indian Navy, is also at Port Sudan and will ferry the citizens of the country to Jeddah.
India launched 'Operation Kaveri' on Monday to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.
The Northeastern African nation has been witnessing fierce fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) loyal to his rival Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Though the SAF and the RSF had agreed for a ceasefire on the occasion of the Eid-ul-Fitr, fierce fighting continued on the streets of Khartoum and other areas of Sudan.
Most of the 500 Indians who were brought to Port Sudan on Monday were evacuated to Jeddah and their repatriation also started.
But the Embassy of India in Khartoum are still weighing options to evacuate over 2000 of the country’s citizens from the capital city and other places of Sudan. The violation of the ceasefire and the continued firefighting made it difficult to transport the Indians to Port Sudan.