Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has disputed with reports indicating 20 Indians’ death in Yemen after Saudi-led airstrike on boats. MEA clarifies saying that 20 Indian crew members were there in two boats. Out of them seven have gone missing while 13 are alive. Currently, no other information on the identities of the Indian nationals is available.

Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson, said in a statement that, “Embassy officials are in constant touch with local authorities and are also due to meet with the boat owner today at which point of time more information would be available.”

Indian Embassy officials in Djbouti and local contacts are in touch. The officials ascertained that one boat of the two was plying between Berbera (Somalia) and Mocha (Yemen). On 8 September afternoon, two boasts came under aerial bombardment.

For the last few months, the Saudi-led alliance has been bombing Houthi rebels. Ground troops were sent into Yemen to retake Sana’a, the capital. It is under the control of Houthi since September 2014. Since last week, air strikes from the alliance are intensified as 60 soldiers belonging to Saudi, United Arab Emirates and Bahraini lost lives due to Houthi attack at a military camp east of Sana'a.

Due to the clash, India evacuated around foreign nationals and 5,000 Indians under Operation Rahat across several parts of Yemen. However, the evacuation was refused by some Indians who preferred staying back.

-Sumana