The Indian Navy sailed into a barrage of bombs in the dead of the night on Tuesday to evacuate nearly 350 Indians from war-torn Yemen after days of Saudi-led air strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
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Amid bombing and fighting all around the port city of Aden in the south of Yemen, the rescue took place in total darkness, so much that "one hand had to feel for another" said sources.
The evacuees, including 101 women and 28 children, are being taken in the navy's INS Sumitra to Djibouti across the Red Sea, where the Indian Air Force's C-17s are waiting to fly them home.
Hours after the rescue code-named "Operation Rahat (relief)," the navy released images of Indian families getting their documents checked and then on the helicopter deck of the warship docked at Aden.
There are around 4,000 Indians in Yemen. Nearly 750 have been rescued in the middle of Saudi air strikes aimed at forcing Houthi rebels to hand power back to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
400 were rescued on Monday with the help of local craft as India waited for clearance to dock its ships in Aden. Soon after it got clearance, the INS Sumitra, which had been waiting outside the Aden harbor, sailed in.
Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh is overseeing the evacuation efforts in Djibouti, which is nine hours by sea from Aden.
Two more naval ships - the INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash - will escort passenger liners Kavaratti and Coral, which are heading for Yemen. A ship takes over four days to travel from Mumbai to Aden and almost five days to Djibouti.
The planes are waiting at Oman's Muscat, in absence of clearance to fly to Yemeni capital Sana'a.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. The Saudi king assured him of full assistance in the safe evacuation of the stranded Indians.
Many countries, including Pakistan and China, have rushed their officials, aircraft and ships to evacuate their nationals.
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