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By India Today News Desk: It was a horrifying experience for 26-year-old Deepak Agnihotri who was stuck in crisis-hit Sudan amid the intense bombing and gunfire. “I was holed up in a basement room before getting an opportunity to escape the battle-scarred nation,” Deepak said, recalling the horror.
Deepak Agnihotri had sent his wife back home on March 31 as the situation was getting tense, but he decided to stay back in Sudan.
Deepak, who has been working for an IT firm in Sudan since 2019, said,”We were in touch with the Indian embassy and when we got clearance to move, we drove to Port Sudan.”
From there, “on a boat arranged by our employer, we reached Jeddah (in Saudi Arabia)”, said Deepak Agnihotri, who is a native of Himachal Pradesh.
‘MOVED TO ROOM IN BASEROOM’
Describing how difficult the situation was, Agnihotri told PTI, “We were in our apartments as the conflict broke out. But as supplies were dwindling, we moved to a room in the basement of our building with whatever we had.”
“We had just enough water and gas to cook food to survive,” he said, and added that once the authorities gave the clearance they moved to Port Sudan.
He said after reaching Jeddah, he and others boarded an Indian Air Force transport aircraft and returned home. “I thank the Indian government for bringing us back home safely,” Agnihotri said.
Many Indians evacuated from crisis-ravaged Sudan and brought back to India have narrated tales of horror and how they managed to survive for the past few weeks with missiles flying overhead and bombarding near their places.
From being kept hostage for hours to being looted, the citizens who returned to India have spoken about the conditions in Sudan and the ordeal they went through in the country.
ALSO READ | Operation Kaveri: India brings back another batch of 229 people from Sudan
OVER 3,000 EVACUATED UNDER OPERATION KAVERI
Meanwhile, around 3,000 stranded Indians have left crisis-hit Sudan for Jeddah till now, as India intensified Operation Kaveri to rescue stranded citizens from Khartoum on Friday. India brought home another batch of 186 people on Monday under its mission to evacuate stranded Indians.
Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India is taking the evacuees to Jeddah from where they are returning home.
India has set up a transit facility in the Saudi Arabian city and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is overseeing the evacuation mission.
“#OperationKaveri continues to bring Indians back home. Flight carrying 186 passengers touches down in Kochi,” tweeted MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.
“IAF C-130J flight carrying 16th batch of evacuees takes off from Port Sudan. 122 passengers onboard this flight are en route to Jeddah. Nearly 3000 persons have now left Sudan under #OperationKaveri,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Sunday night.
It was the 8th flight carrying Indian evacuees that took off from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, since ‘Operation Kaveri’ began.
“Respect and regard to our senior citizens being evacuated from Sudan. #OperationKaveri,” added Bagchi.
On Sunday, another batch of 229 evacuees arrived in Bengaluru, a day after 365 people returned from the African country to Delhi.
“#OperationKaveri One more flight brings back 229 passengers to Bengaluru,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
On Saturday evening, 365 Indians from Sudan arrived in New Delhi under Operation Kaveri, while a flight carrying 231 Indian passengers reached the national capital on Saturday morning.
Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India has been taking its citizens in buses from the conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to Jeddah in the IAF’s heavy-lift transport aircraft and the Indian Navy’s ships.
From Jeddah, the Indians are being brought back home on either commercial flights or IAF aircraft.
India has set up separate control rooms in Jeddah and Port Sudan, and the Indian embassy in Khartoum has been coordinating with them, besides being in touch with the headquarters of the MEA in Delhi.
SUDAN CRISIS
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group for the last 15 days. Intense fighting erupted between soldiers loyal to Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo on April 15.
The violence has left at least 528 people dead and wounded 4,599, according to the health ministry.
As a ceasefire has been called in Sudan, several countries, including India, are attempting to evacuate their citizens from a conflict-ridden nation.
Over the past 15 days of pummelling each other, the generals have each failed to deal a decisive blow to the other in their struggle for control of Africa’s third largest nation.
(With agency input)
ALSO READ | Despite ceasefire, intense fighting continues in Sudan; over 500 die in battle for power
ALSO READ | India brings back 229 more citizens as Sudan conflict enters third week | Top points
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