Operation Kaveri: Private airlines may start evacuating Indians from Jeddah

New Delhi [India], April 26 : India has started evacuating Indians from conflict-ridden Sudan under "Operation Kaveri." Indian citizens are being evacuated in several batches by the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force aircraft.

Now, private carriers in India are also showing their willingness to operate charter flights from India to Jeddah for evacuation. India's low-cost carrier Indigo has offered its services to the government regarding evacuation under Operation Kaveri.

"We have offered our services for charter flights to Jeddah under the Indian Government's Operation Kaveri rescue mission of our citizens from Sudan," an IndiGo official said.

"We are still awaiting details from the ministry to launch these flights, nothing has been confirmed as of yet," further airlines company added.

Asked whether Air India (AI) is operating a flight to evacuate Indians under Operation Kaveri. A senior AI official told , "The AI is very capable of doing evacuation drills. However, no such request has been received so far."

The evacuation operation started in Port Sudan. A number of estimated 300-500 Indian citizens have been evacuated by ship and other evacuation processes are going on.

Earlier, Abdalla Omer Bashir Elhusain, Ambassador of Sudan to India told , "The evacuation process is a very sensitive process given to the political situation, due to the violation of the ceasefire. Due to the distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan, where most of the Indian citizens are staying, which is almost 1000 kilometres, they will have to go by road. So, it is very clear and obvious that this needs a lot of arrangements and coordination. We provided security and protection for the convoy from Khartoum towards Sudan. Hopefully, this operation will continue until all Indian citizens come back safely to their homes and to their families."

Operation Kaveri was launched by India to evacuate Indians stranded in Sudan where the Sudanese Army and paramilitary groups are fighting. Indian Navy has also joined Operation Kaveri with INS Teg arriving at Port Sudan on Tuesday with additional officials and essential relief materials.