Jeddah: To further boost the ongoing repatriation efforts under 'Operation Kaveri' of the Union government, Indian carrier IndiGo joined the mission and with 231 stranded Indians took off from Jeddah.
"Indigo joins #OperationKaveri. 231 Indians in a flight to New Delhi from Jeddah. With this 5th outbound flight, around 1600 reached or airborne for India. Happy journey. Our Mission continues," Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan tweeted.
"We have offered our services for charter flights to Jeddah under the Indian Government's Operation Kaveri rescue mission of our citizens from Sudan. We are still awaiting details from the ministry to launch these flights, nothing has been confirmed as of yet," IndiGo Airlines said in a statement.
Airlines had earlier expressed their willingness in participating in the ongoing evacuation of stranded Indians in the strife-torn African country under 'Operation Kaveri'.
IndiGo said it remains committed to supporting the Central government's mission to evacuate Indian citizens from Sudan. The airline crew stepped forward to respond to the critical humanitarian need of the hour, enabling the safe return of the stranded citizens back to their families and homes.
Earlier, on Friday, Mos MEA V Muraleedharan informed that so far, 2,100 Indians have arrived in Jeddah, as part of 'Operation Kaveri'. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said INS Sumedha, which is stationed at Port Sudan, had also left the crisis-hit country with 300 passengers onboard, for Jeddah. This is the 13th batch of INS Sumedha with evacuated Indians, heading to Jeddah.
Earlier, on Friday, the Indian Air Force C-130J evacuated the 10th and 11th batches of 135 passengers from Port Sudan to Jeddah after the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to extend their ceasefire amid ongoing violence in the capital Khartoum and the western Darfur region.
Earlier, the Sudanese army said it would extend the ceasefire "for an additional 72 hours" following mediation efforts by Saudi Arabia and the United States in the final hours of the repeatedly broken three-day truce, due to end at midnight (22:00 GMT) on Thursday.
The RSF also said it approved the extended truce, adding that the proposal came from two diplomatic groupings that include the US, Saudi Arabia, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Sudan has been on the boil as a result of the ongoing clashes between the army and paramilitary forces. There have been reports of violence and clashes even during the ongoing 72-hour ceasefire. Clashes erupted between soldiers loyal to Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
Committed to ensuring that no Indian national is left behind in Sudan, India has deployed its military planes and warships in the war-torn country. (ANI)
