Rajkot (Gujarat) [India], May 3 (ANI): More than 150 stranded Indian evacuees reached Gujarat‘s Rajkot bus stand, on Tuesday late night, from war-torn Sudan under Operation Kaveri. At the bus stand, the evacuees were welcomed with roses and toffees and the drums were played to welcome them.
ADM Rajkot S J Khachar, who was there at the Rajkot bus stand to receive the evacuees, said that 156 people, who have reached earlier in Agemdabad from Sudan, have reached Rajkot and will be sent to their houses and earlier two senior citizens were sent back to their homes by ambulance.
“This is only possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We have reached safely because of Narendra Modi. We met our family members. We are very thankful to PM Modi,” one of the evacuees said.
“I am very happy to be back in India. The situation in Sudan is very bad. The civil war is going on in the country. It was not impossible to come out in such a situation thanks to PM Modi, the Indian Navy, the Indian Air Force, the External Affairs Ministry, and the Embassy of Sudan,” another evacuee said.
Another evacuee stated that she is very grateful to the Indian government, PM Modi and the Indian military. All the arrangements were great and smooth.
Earlier, on Tuesday morning, 231 Indian evacuees reached Gujarat‘s Ahmedabad from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. “Another #OperationKaveri flight lands in Ahmedabad. 231 more passengers have reached home safely,” the EAM tweeted. This was the 10th flight carrying Indian nationals that left Jeddah earlier on Tuesday.
Taking to Twitter, the Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi wrote, “#OperationKaveri 10th outbound flight carrying Indian evacuees from Jeddah. 231 passengers are en route to Ahmedabad.”
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Sudan has warned that the humanitarian crisis in the country is turning into a “full flown catastrophe” and that the risk of spillover into neighbouring countries was worrisome. “It has been more than two weeks of devastating fighting in Sudan, a conflict that is turning Sudan’s humanitarian crisis into a full-blown catastrophe,” Abdou Dieng, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, told a briefing of member states via video link.
Fighting is underway in Khartoum as the UN warns that Sudan is at a humanitarian “breaking point”.
Rival military forces accuse each other of new violations of a ceasefire that they had just agreed to extend as their devastating conflict enters a third week. Sudan continues to face bloodshed as a result of clashes between the army and paramilitary forces.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Sunday said that nearly 2300 evacuee Indians have reached the country. “A C-130 Indian Airforce flight has landed in New Delhi with 40 passengers. With this flight, around 2,300 people have reached India,” EAM Jaishankar tweeted. (ANI)
