Nearly 348 Indian nationals were rescued on Tuesday by the Indian Navy from the strife-torn Yemen’s Aden city. INS Sumitra took the people to the neighbouring territory of Djibouti, which lies across the Red Sea.

The evacuation process was initiated after India got approval on Tuesday to dock its ship at the Aden harbour. Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speed up the evacuation of Indians stranded in the conflict zone of Yemen.

In a letter to Modi, the Kerala Chief Minister said he was flooded with frantic calls from nurses who are trapped in Yemen where, according to him, the situation is going out of control.

While appreciating the steps so far taken by the Indian government and the Embassy in Yemen, Chandy said more ships and flights should be sent to the region to bring back the stranded Indians. He said the country should make use of the good offices with Saudi Arabia to get landing facility for more flights in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Chandy said some hospitals in Sanaa were reluctant to hand over the passports and certificates to the nurses. The Indian Embassy should be urged to hold talks with such hospitals to ensure the exit of the nurses from the strife-torn country.

The ship, which left along with other vessels from Mumbai and Kochi, will ferry Indians stranded in Yemen to Djibouti, a country on the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. From there, the passengers will then be flown to Mumbai by the national carrier. The rescue operation has been named Op Raahat.

Below is the flurry of tweets by Syed Akbaruddin:

- Manohar