Two IAF planes carrying 334 Indians from Yemen land in Mumbai: Defence sources

New Delhi: Two Indian Air Force flights carrying 334 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen landed in Mumbai on late Friday night, Defence sources said.

The passengers were flown home from Djibouti, where the Indians were brought from Yemen.

Defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar also shared the pictures on Twitter of the Indian returnees from Yemen after landing in Mumbai.

#YemenEvacuation Pics of C-17 of IAF after it landed in Mumbai, bringing back 334 Indians from Yemen via Djibouti. pic.twitter.com/WFDU2UPhtY — Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) April 3, 2015

#YemenEvacuation Some more pics of IAF's C-17 Globemaster III and pilots at Djibouti before their flight to Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/dFX112rmLi

— Sitanshu Kar (@SpokespersonMoD) April 3, 2015

Two C 17 Globemaster transport planes, one carrying 179 Indians and the other carrying 155 people, landed in Mumbai past 11 pm, reports said.

India today began air evacuation of its citizens from Yemen as the first Air India flight landed in Sanaa to rescue those trapped in the largest city of the war-ravaged country.

Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry had said, earlier in the day, that after hectic diplomatic efforts India finally got permission to land in Sanaa. Shortly after getting permission the first flight with a passenger capacity of 120 had landed in Sanaa.  

The MEA spokesperson further said 35 Indians had crossed over from Yemen to Saudi Arabia and are now in Gizan. He said Indian officials are assisting them to return to India.

According to reports, nearly 2,500 Indian nationals are waiting in Sanaa to flee the strife-torn country.

The Spokesperson had also said that there will be four sorties by Air India plane and the government was hoping to rescue over 500 nationals. Minister of State in External Affairs Ministry VK Singh is in Djibouti to oversee the evacuation operation.

Earlier, Air India had sent two 180-seater Airbus A320 planes to Muscat on March 30 for evacuation of Indians from Sanaa to Djibouti but they could not fly to the Yemeni city as clearance was not given by the concerned authorities.

Last night, more than 300 Indians were rescued from Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah, taking the total number of those rescued to over 800 from the country.

So far, majority of Indians were rescued by Navy vessel INS Sumitra. It had evacuated 350 Indians from Aden on Tuesday night and rescued over 300 nationals from Al Hudaydah yesterday.

Indians are being brought back to the country from Djibouti by two Air Force C-17 Globemasters.

This is the fourth major evacuation which the Indian government has undertaken. The first three were in Ukraine, Iraq and Libya.

Yemen has been witnessing fierce battle between Saudi-led coalition and Shiite rebels, who have battled their way into the heart of Yemen's main southern city Aden where fighting raged in the former stronghold of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has fled overseas. 

(With agency inputs)