Operation Kaveri: 1st Batch of Indians Leave Sudan Onboard INS Sumedha

New Delhi: The first batch of stranded Indians left Sudan under Operation Kaveri. They left the violence-marred nation onboard INS Sumedha. In the first batch of evacuees there were 278 people onboard INS Sumedha that departed Port Sudan for Jeddah, informed the Ministry of External Affairs.

India launched the evacuation process named Operation Kaveri to rescue Indians from violence-torn Sudan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a tweet on Monday said, “Operation Kaveri gets underway to bring back our citizens stranded in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan. More on their way. Our ships and aircraft are set to bring them back home. Committed to assist all our bretheren in Sudan.”

Two C-130 aircrafts and the naval ship INS Sumedha are on standby to safely evacuate stranded Indians. According to the official data, the number of Indians in Sudan is around 4,000. S Jaishankar held talks with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE for assistance during the rescue operation.

Recent evacuation process could be started as Sudan’s battling generals have agreed to a three-day ceasefire after 10 days of fighting that has claimed the lives of over 400 persons. The US managed to broker this cease-fire between the warring factions.

In Sudan, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are waging a deadly power struggle across the country.