Janardhan Kumar's son is stranded in Sanaa, Yemen
Just a few days ago, Janardhan Kumar's family was busy making calls to invite people over to their 29-year-old son's wedding.
But these days, its frantic calls being made to seek the government's help to get back their son Seetal Kumar, now stranded in Sanaa in Yemen.
Janardhan, 65, keeps calling their son every few hours, while his wife just can't stop crying. Their son, the family's only bread winner, has been in Sanaa for the last four years since Janardhan retired and returned home.
Seetal was originally set to return home on April 5, and was to get married two weeks later. Now, his safe return is his family's only concern.
"I have registered at Kerala government's NORKA helpline. They have said they will do whatever they can to get back our son," said Janardhan.
Seetal's mother, 57-year-old Bhasurangi, who starts crying at the very mention of her son, says, "He was supposed to come on April 5, now he can't. We have stopped distributing the wedding invitations."
"We have received nearly 480 distress calls, we believe that 50 per cent of Indians stranded there are from Kerala. Government is in close touch with the embassy. We have asked the embassy to issue exit certificates to those who don't have necessary documents. The airport now is functional," said RS Kanan, CEO of NORKA-ROOTS in Kerala government.
Nearly 3500 Indians are estimated to be stranded in Yemen, with nearly 2500 in Sanaa. Most of the Indians stranded in Yemen are nurses. According to government sources, there are hospitals which are refusing to return the Indian employees their documents and release them from work. The embassy has been intervening.
Ruby Chandy, who returned to Kerala on Monday from Yemen, says, "The situation is critical. Saudis are carrying out a lot of air targeting. It starts from 6 in the evening to almost 6 in the morning. The fighting goes for almost 12 hours. Day time, it is ok but the attacks start around the time of sunset."
In Tamil Nadu's Salem district, anxious Vignesh managed to chat online with his parents in Yemen, just before they managed to board a flight to Djibouti in Africa for safety. His mother Geetha works for United Bank Limited and his father for NATCO pharma. The family says it was a nightmare for the couple. They claim the Indian embassy did not offer any support.
According to the couple's family, "they waited for 17 hours at the airport without any help and even decided to return but rushed back following threats of bombardment. If everything goes well they would be home by Tuesday."
"The last message I received from my father was at 5 pm. This brought some hope in me that they would be safe after three days of fear, pain and anxiety. The strikes started early morning on Thursday," said Vignesh.
Even as the government has sent ships and planes to evacuate Indians from Yemen, the anxious families say their painfully long wait is nothing in comparison to hope of being reunited.