Yemen crisis: With no airstrips, 3,700 Indians to be evacuated

An option to send the national carrier instead of an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft is also being mulled given the “signal” that a service aircraft landing in the region may send. While Indian Air Force (IAF) as well as Navy have been consulted, neither of the two agencies have yet received any instructions to proceed.

[related-post]

“The challenge in Yemen is that no airstrip is available for landing. Thus, the closest airstrip is Djibouti on the southern side of Gulf of Aden. Indian citizens are thus likely to be brought to Djibouti via Gulf of Aden and then flown to Mumbai,” said a source.

While Sana’a-the Yemeni capital, has nearly 3,000 Indians-mostly nurses, the southern port and Yemen’s second largest town Aden has close to 700 Indians.

“In light of war, a civilian aircraft carrying out the operation is a more viable option that an IAF plane landing,” a source said adding however that “no concrete plan has been finalised yet.”

While the IAF has been consulted-officials declined to comment as to whether any aircraft has been kept in a state of readiness. Navy officials added that the readiness state of the naval vessels is as usual and those operating in Arabian sea “are in a position to be diverted to Gulf of Aden on a call.”

While Saudi-led forces have been striking the Houthi rebels in Yemen since Thursday morning, the Indian embassy in Yemen has advised Indian nationals to “leave” Yemen.