‘From bullets flying past to bodies burning… we have seen it all’: Sudan evacuees narrate ordeal

Adding that he does not plan to return to the strife-torn region soon, Sharma says he had planned to stay in Sudan for two years but had to cut it short in 7 months as the situation worsened in Khartoum.

An #OperationKaveri flight arrives in Mumbai with 246 Indians rescued from #Sudan on board.

Follow Live Updates: https://t.co/H4R6xRgNa8 pic.twitter.com/Lp3ajuU0Qh

— Express Mumbai (@ie_mumbai) April 27, 2023

The plane took off from Jeddah with the evacuees, some of them who belong to Mumbai. The rest of the passengers boarded connecting flights to their respective states.

Another passenger Shyam, who was born and brought up in Sudan and was a resident of Khartoum, said, “I witnessed the bombings and the gunfires took place in our area from close quarters…”

Shyam, who lived with his family in Sudan and was running an automobile business there, plans to travel to his family home in Gujarat. On whether he would consider returning to Sudan in future, he replied, “Absolutely, I would want to move back to the place where I was born.”

On the rescue operation, a majority of them said that they were first taken to Port Sudan and then flown to Saudi Arabia, from where were boarded planes to India.

#WATCH | Mumbai: “Our country is great. May PM Modi live for 1,000 years,” says an elderly woman who has returned from Sudan pic.twitter.com/peVQaWjwM7

— ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2023

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Rajesh from Chennai, who worked in Sudan’s financial sector, stated, “The Indian Embassy at Sudan was very helpful and systematic in the rescue operation… It had created multiple WhatsApp groups for Indian citizens to relay important safety guidelines…” Rajesh, who was placed in Port Sudan, is relieved to return to his homeland.

Shabnam had gone to Sudan recently to support her husband who was there on some business work and was suffering from Parksion’s Disease. “Humne sirf dekha nahi, mehsoos bhi kiya hai (We have not just seen but also experienced),” she said, referring to the bombings and gunfires.

Shabnam, originally from Rajasthan, expressed her gratitude to the Central government and the Rajasthan government for evacuating them safely.