Operation Kaveri: 186 Indians evacuated from Sudan arrive in Kochi

KOCHI: A total of 186 Indians from strife-torn Sudan on Monday arrived in Kochi under Operation Kaveri. "#OperationKaveri continues to bring Indians back home. Flight carrying 186 passengers touches down in Kochi," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Monday.

The Kochi-bound flight on Sunday departed from Jeddah with 186 passengers. "9th outbound flight departs from Jeddah. 186 passengers onboard this flight are flying to Kochi," Bagchi tweeted.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday tweeted: "With almost 1400 Indians evacuated in IAF aircraft over the past few days, two C-130 J aircraft have evacuated 260 personnel including elders who were above 90 years of age & one above 102 years of age."

Earlier, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar, on Sunday, said that nearly 2300 evacuee Indians have reached India. "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.

The number reached the 2300 mark on the 8th flight however, following it, three more flights carried 229, 288 and 135 passengers respectively, taking the number of evacuees to more than 2500.

On Saturday evening, 365 Indians from Sudan arrived in New Delhi under Operation Kaveri, while a flight carrying 231 Indian passengers reached the national capital on Saturday morning. As a ceasefire has been called in Sudan, several countries, including India, are attempting to evacuate their citizens from a conflict-ridden nation.

The Indian government under Operation Kaveri, is set to evacuate about 3,000 Indian-origin passengers from Sudan. Sudan is experiencing bloodshed as a result of clashes between the army and paramilitary forces.

Fighting has erupted between soldiers loyal to Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Committed to ensuring that no Indian national is left behind in Sudan, India has deployed its military planes and warships in the war-torn country to bring its citizens safely under Operation Kaveri.