Over 350 Indians Arrive Home After Dramatic Rescue From Yemen

An Air Force C-17 Globemaster carrying 168 Indians, including nurses, landed in Kerala's Kochi at around 2 am. (See pics).

Another aircraft carrying 190 Indian nationals arrived in Mumbai at around 3:25 am.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said 206 evacuees belong to Kerala, 40 are from Tamil Nadu, 31 from Maharashtra, 23 from West Bengal and 22 from Delhi.

The Indians, including 101 women and 28 children, were rescued from the port city of Aden in Yemen on Tuesday night in naval warship INS Sumitra, which "sailed into a barrage of bombs" in the dead of night.

They were taken yesterday to Djibouti across the Red Sea, nine hours from Aden. The Indians were received there by union minister VK Singh, who is monitoring evacuation efforts.

Indian aircraft have been cleared to fly to the Yemeni capital Sana'a and evacuate people by air. Two Air India Airbus 320s have landed in Sana'a from Muscat, where they were waiting for clearance.

Around 750 of some 4,000 Indians in Yemen have been evacuated so far. The naval ship INS Sumitra has permission to make multiple trips to evacuate more Indians.  It will be joined by two other naval vessels and two passenger liners, the navy said.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for help to evacuate nurses who claim they are stuck in Yemen and their passports have not been returned by hospitals where they work.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes pounded the outskirts of Aden on Tuesday, destroying missiles and weapons depots and for the first time used warships to bomb the rebel-held airport.

Many countries, including Pakistan and China, have rushed their officials, aircraft and ships to evacuate their nationals.