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Special Arrangement.Indian evacuees from Yemen cling to the rescue boat taking them to Navy ship INS Tarkash anchored off Aden. Photo: Special Arrangement. -
Saudi air strikes light up Aden. Photo: Special Arrangement
For the Indian Navy, Operation Rahat has become not just a people-rescue
mission, though the force can take credit for helping to ferry home
5,000 Indians safely. In the choppy waters of war-torn Yemen, amid
strafing and crossfire, the officers and seamen had to brave heavy odds,
as on April 10.
“It was a riot-like situation, with bombs going off, Saudi airstrikes
continuing to pound the city, and hundreds of people [of various
nationalities] surrounding our ship to get on board and flee the
violence,” recounts one of the men on board INS Tarkash of that night that threw the toughest challenge to Indian forces.
The Hindu has accessed photographs and eyewitness accounts from
those on board the naval ship of the horrors of that night as the vessel
stayed in the waters off Aden, waiting for the last of Indians who
could find their way out of a country aflame. Hundreds of men and women
arrived on boats, demanding that they be taken to Djibouti by the ship.
One witness said people trying to clamber on to INS Tarkash
included armed men, some toting AK-47s. “We turned away anyone who was
armed, but later we recovered live and fired ammunition from them, and
knives as well,” an official said.
The body of one Indian, Manjeet Singh, who died of injuries when caught
in the crossfire coming out of Aden, was brought to Djibouti by the
ship, which carried pregnant women, people with cancer and malnourished
children.
Yemenis and those of other nationalities desperate to get on to the ship
forced Indians to stay back at the harbour until they boarded. “After
taking in 200 evacuees and finding that more than 90 per cent of them
were Yemenis, we realised they were stopping Indians from coming out to
the ship,” one officer said. “We told the Aden port control sternly that
unless they send Indians to us on the boats, we would not take Yemenis;
they finally budged.” Even so, the ship carried only 50 Indians among
more than 460 evacuees to Djibouti.
Asked if the ship had been in any danger, Naval Public Relations Officer
Captain D.K. Sharma said: “If our men are stuck and we have to rescue
thousands, we use force-protection measures. Our ships are well equipped
and the men know how to handle such situations.”
Speaking about the challenges that the naval personnel faced, Captain
Sharma said, “When you are going to a place that has fallen to rebels …
all the authorities and infrastructure fail. Our men have been working
as a sea bridge without respite, to bring Indian citizens out of Yemen,
stopping in Djibouti only to make them disembark and then going back
into the war zone.”
One question that remains is why are Indian forces exposed to high risks to rescue nationals of so many countries Read about the brave Navy personnel here
The great Yemen escape: Operation Rahat by numbers
5,600+
Total number of people evacuated
4,640
Indians Rescued
960
foreign nationals rescued
41
countries whose citizen were rescued by India
2900+
those evacuated by air through 18 special flights out of Sana a
1670
those rescued by sea from Aden, Al Hudaydah and Al Mukalla
Day-by-day action
(Approximate, based on tweets from MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin and General V.K. Singh)April 1
- By: Navy's INS Sumitra
- Location: Aden
- Evacuated: 348
April 2
- By: Navy's INS Sumitra
- Location: Al Hudaydah
- Evacuated: 300+
April 3
- By: 2 flights from Air India
- Location:Sana a
- Evacuated: 351
April 4
- 3 Air India flights: 325
- Navy's INS Mumbai: 439
April 5
- 3 Air India flights: 488
- 2 IAF C-17 flights: 225+229
- Navy's INS Sumitra: 203
April 6
- 3 Air India flights: 574
- IAF's C-17: 176
- Navy's INS Mumbai: 479
April 7
- 3 Air India flights: 600+
April 8
- 3 Air India flights: 630
(Air operations conclude)
April 9
- INS Sumitra: 349
(Evacuation concludes)
