Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra on Thursday, April 27, said that the Indian government is constantly monitoring the situation in Sudan, adding that the situation on ground in the conflict-torn region remains highly volatile.
At a media briefing, he said India has been in touch with all the concerned sides in Sudan with a focus on taking out Indians from the conflict zones.
"Our focus has been to take out the Indians from the conflict zones to safer areas as soon as possible and then to bring them back home," the foreign secretary said.
Referring to India's evacuation mission 'Operation Kaveri', he said 360 Indians have been brought back home and another batch of 246 are reaching India soon.
At present, he said around 320 Indians are in Port Sudan and they are being taken to Saudi city of Jeddah.
"Our estimate is that there are approximately 3,500 Indians and 1,000 Person of Indian Origins (PIOs) in Sudan," Kwatra said.
He said that the third naval ship - INS Tarkash - has also reached Port Sudan to evacuate Indians from Sudan.
India has evacuated at least 670 Indian nationals from Sudan and is looking to rescue more of its citizens from the strife-torn African nation before the end of a tenuous ceasefire between the regular army and a paramilitary force.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country's army and a paramilitary group for the last 12 days that has reportedly left around 400 people dead.
India stepped up its efforts to evacuate the Indians from Sudan after a 72-hour truce was agreed between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces following intense negotiations.
India has set up a transit facility in Jeddah and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan is overseeing the evacuation mission from the Saudi Arabian city.
The first batch of 278 Indians was evacuated from Port Sudan by the Indian Navy's frontline ship INS Sumedha on Tuesday.
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