India deploys third naval ship, 297 more evacuated

India has deployed the third naval ship INS Tarkash for evacuation operations being carried out in conflict-ridden Sudan, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Thursday. “I’m informed that the third ship, INS Tarkash, has also reached Port Sudan today as part of our efforts,” Kwatra said.
Meanwhile, as Operation Kaveri is underway, another batch of 297 Indians have been rescued from Sudan and have arrived at Jeddah by INS Teg, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said.
Muraleedharan along with other officials of the Indian Navy received the rescued Indians at Jeddah. He tweeted, “#OperationKaveri continues in swift pace. Happy to receive 297 Indians at Jeddah carried by INS Teg. With this second ship and total six batches, around 1,100 Indians rescued from Sudan have arrived in Jeddah. Repatriation to India of those arriving today will commence shortly.”
In another development, apprising the media persons about how the rescue operation is going in Sudan, the Foreign Secretary said, “Two naval ships have also been positioned as part of Government of India efforts. INS Sumedha was the first one to dock, took up, picked up roughly 300 odd Indians yesterday, brought them to Port Jeddah and is today back in Port Sudan to fetch the next group of Indians and bring them to safe harbours.”
Kwatra said that the Government of India is making several efforts to rescue the Indians from Sudan including setting up of control room in India and in Sudan as well.
“PM Narendra Modi addressed a high-level meeting in which he personally reviewed and directed the officials of the Government of India to take suitable measures to assist and bring back these stranded Indians,” Kwatra said.
The Foreign Secretary also said, “As part of our efforts, two C-130 aircraft of Indian Air Force have been mobilised and are constantly positioned in Jeddah, and have been there since 19 April. We have also set up a control room in Jeddah and a control room in Port Sudan. So we have two control rooms working along with our embassy. So there’s a full triangulation of efforts between the control room in Jeddah through our consulate and mission in Riyadh, through the control room team in Port Sudan, which is the north-eastern coast of Sudan, and our embassy in Khartoum City.”
“And of course, each of these three hubs is coordinating their efforts and direction, to bring back the stranded Indians, with the headquarters in Delhi,” he added.