The Hindu : National : Flights to evacuate Indians commence operations

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National

Flights to evacuate Indians commence operations

Sarath Babu George

KOTTAYAM: Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has said that operations were in full swing to bring back the Indian nationals from the strife-torn African nation. He was speaking to media persons here on Saturday.

Two special flights deployed to evacuate Indians stranded in Libya had commenced operations.

Mr. Ravi said: “The Ministry of External Affairs had successfully obtained special flight clearance after talks with the Libyan government. As part of the rescue efforts, two Air India aircrafts, that had been specially chartered as part of the contingency operations, have reached Tripoli.

The first aircraft will depart from Tripoli to New Delhi on Saturday after picking up the first batch of passengers. The government has directed the rescue mission to ensure that women and children are evacuated at the earliest,” he said.

He also assured the safety of those stranded.

“The government had sent a team to assist the officials of the Indian Embassy in Libya to ensure the safety of the nearly 18000 Indians stranded there. We have also been receiving military assistance from the Libyan government. The Embassy has also made certain the protection of the nearly 180 nurses, mostly hailing from Kerala, who had taken refuge at a hotel in Benghazi. A ship that has been dispatched will pick these nurses and transport them to Alexandria, from where they will be flown back to India,” said Mr. Ravi.

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