On Thursday, an Indian Air Force plane carrying 246 Indians who had been evacuated from the war-torn Sudan touched down in Mumbai. An official said that the jet, which departed from Jeddah at approximately 11 am IST, arrived here at around 3.30 pm.
“Our efforts to quickly transfer Indians from Jeddah home are paying off. IAF C17 Globemaster will shortly transport 246 Indians to Mumbai. A few minutes before the flight to Mumbai took off, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan tweeted, “Happy to see them off at Jeddah airport.”
As part of “Operation Kaveri,” India has been busing its nationals from war zones in Khartoum and other unrest-ridden regions to Port Sudan, where they are then transported to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah by heavy-lift transport planes and ships from the Indian Air Force.
Around 850 kilometres separate Khartoum and Port Sudan, and depending on the circumstances and whether buses are running at night or during the day, the journey by bus may take anywhere between 12 and 18 hours.
