'Yemen evacuation collective effort'

New Delhi, April 20: The successful evacuation of Indian tiols from Yemen was the result of collective effort of several ministries and agencies, Exterl Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday. Making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha, the minister said: “It was a joint effort of several Indian ministries and agencies, supervised and coordited by the ministry of exterl affairs.” The minister, who was almost iudible amid slogan shouting by the opposition who were protesting against the land ordince said: “We successfully evacuated Indians from Yemen under very difficult circumstances.” “As the Indian embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operatiol in Sa’a after the air strikes began, we received formal requests from 33 countries for assistance in evacuation of their tiols.

“We responded positively to these requests to the extent possible based on ground realities and helped tiols of 48 countries in evacuation.” The minister said India assisted tiols of Australia, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Cada, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Germany and Hungary, among other countries. “This received worldwide appreciation.” She said the government also ensured that Indian tiols not in possession of travel documents were provided emergency certificates by the embassy in Sa’a. “We left no stone unturned to assist all those Indians in Yemen desirous of returning home in a timely and safe evacuation.” (ians)