Operation ‘Sankat Mochan’ got under way with the first Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft carrying 156 evacuees from civil war-torn South Sudan landing at the international airport here at around 4 am on Friday.

Since the largest number of evacuees hailed from South India, Thiruvananthapuram was chosen as the first place of touchdown. The rest were flown to New Delhi later.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had accompanied the evacuees from Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The first batch included nine women, three children and two Nepalese citizens.

Speaking to newspersons at the airport here, Singh said that at least 550 Indians have been living in Juba. Of them, 156 presented themselves at the airport.

Forty others had boarded commercial flights once they began to operate. But 300 others chose to stay back since they were not ready to part with the businesses and other professional commitments at short notice.

The C-17 had flown to Uganda first and had refuelled from there. The Ugandan government had extended all assistance to the relief operation, Singh said.

Kadakampally Surendran, Power Minister, Kerala, and Biju Prabhakar, Thiruvananthapuram Collector, were present at the airport to receive the evacuees.

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