New Delhi will send two ships to Yemen to evacuate stranded Indians

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Indian government is preparing to carry out yet another evacuation from trouble-torn middle-eastern country Yemen. The Centre will soon send two ships to Yemen to evacuate Indians, including Keralites, stranded there. MEA has already set up a 24-hour control room to monitor the situation and respond to queries.
Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has told Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, that since all the airports in Yemen are closed, the plan is to bring people to the neighbouring country Djibouti by ships and from there to India in aircraft, a government release said here.
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Those who cannot be brought by ship would be taken to Saudi Arabia by road and from there to India, Swaraj was quoted as saying in the release.
The Keralites, residing in Yemen, informed the chief minister over phone that the passports and certificates of those working in hospitals have been held back, which is creating problems for their return to home, it said.
Following the information, Chandy has urged the Indian Ambassador at Yemen to immediately intervene in the issue and resolve it.

Yemeni mourners stand on a trailer loaded with coffins of the victims of last week's multiple suicide bombings that targeted Shia Huthi mosques in Sanaa, on March 25, 2015, during a group funeral in the Yemeni capital. (AFP photo)
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Chandy also requested that those who are willing to return should contact the Indian Embassy at Yemen, the release added.
According to official sources, Swaraj spoke to India's ambassador in Sanaa, Amrit Lugun, about the evolving situation. Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Gulf Arab states to conduct airstrikes on the Shia Houthis who have overrun Sanaa and believed to be advancing on Aden. Yemen's president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his fellow Sunni loyalists have fled, with reports saying Hadi escaped Aden in a boat. Iran supports the Houthi rebels, which basically means this war is a battle for pre-eminence between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the region.

A tank is stationed outside the presidential palace as the Shia Huthi militia, which controls the capital Sanaa, guards its vicinity on March 25, 2015. (AFP photo)
39 dead in Yemen since Saudi-led strikes began: Officials
At least 39 civilians have been killed in more than 24 hours of Saudi-led air strikes against Shia rebels in Yemen, health ministry officials said on Friday.
Twelve of the victims were killed when a raid against a military base north of Sanaa hit surrounding residential areas, officials from the rebel-controlled ministry told AFP.
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Witnesses said warplanes targeted Al-Samaa base, which is used by army units believed to take orders from their former commander Ahmed Ali Saleh.
Saleh is the son of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is accused of allying with the Huthi rebels against President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
At dawn on Friday, three air strikes hit the presidential compound in south Sanaa which the rebels seized last month, witnesses said.
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Houthi fighters ride a patrol truck in Sanaa on March 25, 2015. (Reuters photo)
Overnight raids targeted another army brigade loyal to Saleh in the eastern province of Marib, tribal sources said.
A military official told AFP that Saudi-led coalition jets also bombed a large arms depot in a third army camp used by forces loyal to the former strongman.
The official spoke of "dozens" of casualties at the camp, located in Sanaa's southern outskirts, but the information could not be independently verified.
(With inputs from PTI, AFP)