NEW DELHI: Nearly 2,000 of the estimated 3,500 Indians stuck in war-torn Sudan have been brought to safe zones as part of Operation Kaveri, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said here on Thursday.
But giving a specific timeline on when all Indians would be evacuated wouldn’t be realistic at present as the 72-hour ceasefire in Sudan has not been honoured a few times, he added.
“We have managed to get around 2000 Indians in the safe zone. It includes the two flights which have brought in 360 evacuated passengers to Delhi via a Saudi Airlines charter flight and 246 evacuated passengers to Mumbai on a Indian Air Force aircraft. This number also includes the Indians we have been able to get from Khartoum to Port Sudan and those who have reached Jeddah,” Kwatra said.
Those evacuated till now are Indians living around volatile zones. There are many others who don’t want to leave yet. It includes PIOs (Persons of Indian origin) whose families migrated to Sudan nearly a century back. The estimated PIO count in Sudan is over 1,000.
Since the Indian Embassy in Khartoum is near the airport where maximum fighting is on, its staff are operating from elsewhere. India has received requests from other countries as well, including Sri Lanka, to evacuate their citizens. The government has assured them of help after getting Indians back home. Arranging additional flights is a pain point as there are many countries in the evacuation queue.
The IAF’s C170 J is doing sorties from Port Sudan to Jeddah — a 45-minute flight. The travel distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan is over 12 hours.