'Evacuation of Indian nationals from Yemen a national effort'

The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said the evacuation of 348 Indian nationals from strife-torn Yemen was a national effort involving various aspects of the country's assets like the Air Force, Navy and Air India.

"I can confirm to you that national effort is underway to bring back our nationals who are engulfed in the turbulence in Yemen. Last night the first phase of this national effort involving the Indian navy was successful," MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told ANI.

"This is a national effort and an effort involving various aspects of India's national assets like the airforce, navy and diplomatic assets. We will continue this effort until we are able to bring back all back our nationals," he added.

Indian Naval ship, INS Sumitra, rescued 348 stranded Indian nationals from strife-torn Yemen's Aden city on Tuesday night.

The ship is now on its way to Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen.

"We were able to evacuate almost 350 of our nationals from Aden in the darkness of night, even while there were issues of their security etc. And these Indian nationals are now onboard INS Sumitra, which has sailed towards Djibouti. We expect that it would reach Djibouti by mid-day today, local time," said Akbaruddin.

"We have a contingent of Indian diplomats and senior officials headed by Minister of State VK Singh to oversee their return to India from there," he added.

Saudi-led coalition war planes have struck pro-Iranian rebels in Yemen with the Islamic kingdom threatening to send ground troops which could potentially initiate a broader sectarian conflict in the Middle East.

Earlier, Houthi rebels backed by allied army units seized Yemen's largest al-Anad air base on Wednesday from forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.