Thirty eight Indians who were stranded in Yemen’s Socotra Island due to Cyclone Mekunu have been rescued, the Indian Navy said. The Indian seafarers were stranded after a very Severe Cyclonic Storm Mekenu crossed the Yemeni Island of Socotra on May 24, and at least two Indians and five Yemenis were killed when the cyclone hit the island.
According to the Indian Navy, in response to a distress call received from the DG shipping and the Indian Sailing Vessels Association, Indian Naval Ship Sunayna, currently deployed for in the Gulf of Aden, was directed to evacuate 38 Indian nationals stranded on Socotra. Mekunu also damaged property on and near the Socotra island. Three Indian dhows at Socotra suffered damages and sank at the harbour; another dhow, MSV Safina Al Khijar with 12 Indians onboard is reported to be still missing.
“The Indian Navy undertook two aerial sorties on May 27 and 28 to search for the missing Indians. INS Sunayna, deployed on a mission based deployment in the Gulf of Aden was pressed into action to evacuate the 38 Indian nationals from Socotra,” the Indian Navy said.
The operation, code name 'NISTAR', was carried out on Sunday morning off the coast of Socotra.
“The evacuated Indians were embarked onboard and immediately provided with medical care, food, water and telephone facilities to call and reassure their families at home. All 38 have been reported to be safe. Post evacuation, the ship would be proceeding towards Porbandar to disembark the Indians ashore,” the Indian Navy added.
TNM had first reported on May 26 that Indian sailors at the Island had gone missing when they were at the island’s port as the cyclone struck. When the cyclone Mekenu hit Oman after crossing Yemen, the India Navy had deployed two ships, INS Deepak and INS Kochi from Mumbai as first responders to the crisis in Salalah, Oman – cyclone Mekunu also passed Salalah, which is home to 80,000 Indians.