CM seeks urgent steps to evacuate people stranded in Yemen

Voicing concern over the deteriorating situation in conflict-hit Yemen, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today sought urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back all Indians stranded there.
Thanking the Centre for the steps taken so far to bring back Indians, including Keralites from Yemen, he said as the situation was going out of control every hour, an effective time-bound evacuation should be evolved without delay.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Chandy said he was getting frantic calls even from young nurses stranded there.
"They all are literally weeping and afraid of threat even to their life if urgent steps are not taken," he said.

Listing out the suggestions, Chandy said "We must use all our good offices with the rulers of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to get landing facility to our flights in Sanaa and other airports in Yemen."
More flights and ships, including Naval vessels, could be be sent to Yemen for evacuation so as to complete the process at the earliest, he said.

All Indians who want to come back may be provided with Exit Pass and required permission to leave Yemen without charging any fees.
He said some hospitals, including Sanaa Military Hospital, were not permitting the nurses to leave Yemen.

They were demanding compensation and withholding the passports. Indian Embassy should contact all such hospitals and do the needful to release them since the nurses and paramedical staff cannot pay any compensation, he said.
"Since most of the nurses are from Kerala, kindly consider airlifting them to Kochi or Trivandrum, if possible," he said.
"It is reported in the media that both China and Pakistan had evacuated their citizens and this evoked much concern and agony among the Indians in Yemen and their relatives in India", he said.
Meanwhile, as many as 350 Indians today reached Djibouti after being evacuated on a Navy vessel from Aden, the seaport city of strife-torn Yemen, and will be brought back to India by the Indian Air Force tonight, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

Minister of State for External Affairs Ministry V K Singh also reached Djibouti to oversee the evacuation operation launched by the government to rescue over 4,000 nationals in Yemen.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded Yemen's Shiite rebels for the sixth day yesterday, destroying missiles and weapons depots and for the first time using warships to bomb the rebel-held airport and eastern outskirts of the port city of Aden.