Flight with 360 Indians evacuated from trouble-hit Sudan lands in Delhi

A special flight, carrying 360 Indian evacuees from Sudan, landed in Delhi from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evening.

"India welcomes back its own. #OperationKaveri brings 360 Indian Nationals to the homeland as first flight reaches New Delhi," External Affairs Minister S Jaishakar tweeted along with arrival pictures.

The government has launched 'Operation Kaveri' to bring back the stranded Indian nationals from trouble-hit Sudan.

In the visuals shared by ANI, the Indian nationals, who arrived from Sudan, are heard chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'Indian Army Zindabad' and 'PM Narendra Modi Zindabad'.

An Indian woman also thanked the government after landing safely in Delhi from conflict-torn Sudan. "The Indian government supported us a lot. It's a big thing that we reached here safely as it was very dangerous. I thank PM Modi and the Indian government," she said in the clip.

On the other hand, India has evacuated a total of 670 Indian nationals from Sudan. 392 Indian nationals were brought to Jeddah by a C-130J military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force from Port Sudan in three flights on Wednesday, a day after an Indian Navy ship rescued 278 citizens from that country. As per the official data, the total number of Indians evacuated from Sudan now stands at 670.

An Indian named Bharat, who returned from Sudan, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for making good arrangement for their return. "I am thankful to Indian Govt. Saudi Arabia also did a good job. I salute PM Narendra Modi and Dr S Jaishankar for the good arrangements," he said.

"Indian govt is currently the only government that has put more focus on Indian citizens including diplomats. Developed countries are primarily focusing on diplomats," says Gaurav Jain, an Indian national who returned from Sudan.

To facilitate the evacuation of Indians from Sudan, India has set up a control room in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and sent Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to oversee the evacuation mission.

The fighting erupted between the nation's two top Generals, who have the backing of tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, on April 15.

Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo were together till recently, brought down Omar al-Bashir's government in 2019 by orchestrating a military coup in October 2021 resulting in the suspension of the constitution. However, differences between the two Generals cropped up during negotiations to integrate the RSF into the country's military as part of plans to restore civilian rule.

Meanwhile, the fifth batch of stranded Indians has left Sudan.