When India Conducted The Greatest Civilian Airlift in History...

[Chanakya's_Chant]

The Yemen evacuation effort is a reminder of how India conducted the greatest civilian airlift in history
India evacuated more than 1 lakh citizens from Iraq in the first Gulf War.

​

Photo Credit: Indian Air Force​

An Indian Navy ship sailed "into a barrage of bombs" on Tuesday to dock in Aden as India begins evacuating thousands of its citizens stranded in war-torn Yemen . The complicated operation involves transporting them by ship from Aden to Djibouti, from where the Indians are being flown back on Air Force planes. India also has Air India planes stationed in Muscat to help citizens return home as a Saudi Arabia-led coalition bombs the rebels who have taken over much of Yemen, in situation that has turned into a civil war.

Fortunately, Indian authorities have a fair bit of experience in this matter. Over the past decade, it has rescued citizens from Iraq just before the American invasion in 2003, then again in 2006 in Lebanon, and 2011 in Libya, when ministry officials worked with the Indian Navy to put up sea bridges that evacuated Indians from both war-torn nations. But its greatest achievement in safeguarding Indian citizens stuck in a war zone just happened to take place in the same country that is once again gripped with violence, Iraq.

In two months in 1990, India managed to evacuate more than 110,000 citizens from Iraq and Kuwait via an airlift that included nearly 500 flights. The operation is the largest civilian evacuation in history.

“Whenever we talk of airlifts, the only thing that people talk of is the Berlin Airlift [during the Cold War],” said Retired Air Vice Marshall Manmohan Bahadur. “Of course, the aircraft were primitive and the situation was different back then, yet airlifting one lakh people, as we did in Iraq, is unheard of.”

Embracing Saddam

It began with then-external affairs minister IK Gujral’s infamous visit to Baghdad, soon after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The central thrust of Gujral’s visit was to ensure that Iraq would help facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens from the country, although there were also discussions on trade relations between the two despite the blockade by Western countries.

Gujral’s visit included a famous embrace by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which earned him a lot of flak from the media. KP Fabian, then joint secretary, Gulf, at the external affairs ministry, said that there is no merit in the criticism.

“One cannot 'duck' an embrace from a head of state; it is a question of courtesy and manners,” Fabian told the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. Whether the embrace was right or wrong, Iraq ended up facilitating the evacuation.

The Indian embassy began reaching out to the thousands of Indians who were living primarily in Kuwait, which was then under Iraqi occupation. A few military flights were arranged at first, with leaders in the Indian community working with the embassy to pick out the infirm, elderly, women and children to fly back. But once they had all returned to India, the government realised that military transport – which is much more cumbersome because of air space clearances – would not do the job.

Civilian route

So they settled on an airlift using civilian aircraft. Which meant turning to Air India. “You should have seen us,” said MP Mascarenhas, who organised the operation, as the airline’s regional director in the Gulf & Middle East. “We were operating out of a hotel room in Amman with very little space and carrying out all our operations from there.” He would later become Air India's managing director. “We had very little assistance from the embassy, other than issuing passports, but we had very good relations with the local authorities, who helped us.”

And they needed all the help they could get. Initially just a few flights were being flown and many thought that the situation might not require everyone to be evacuated. But Indians remaining behind in Kuwait City were beginning to have a difficult time because of the occupation.

Soft corners

“The Iraqis had a soft corner for us, so we were spared the worst, but there were others – like the Palestinian expatriates – who started to loot and steal,” said Agnel Rebello, who works as a regional finance manager for a multinational company and has been in Kuwait since 1980. “At one point, I had a person hold a gun to me, telling me to give him my car. Luckily, I had removed some parts so he couldn’t start it.”

Buses organised by those in the Indian community, with the tacit agreement of the Iraqi government, started shepherding those who wanted to leave through Basra, Baghdad and eventually the Jordanian border. From there, they poured into Amman, where the planes were set to take off.

“We were quite demoralised initially,” said Mascarenhas. “We started to see the refugees pouring in. Some managed to stay at hotels, but others were even camping at the airport. When we landed in Amman, there were already 5,000 to 7,000 Indians there and the numbers started swelling immediately.” Eventually, Air India would fly 488 flights over 59 days, carrying 111,711 passengers. Western historians write eloquently and in great detail of the Berlin airlift, which took nearly two years to pull out about 48,000 people, but Mascarenhas says the Indian operation also deserves to be noted.

The current situation is more manageable. There is more information on the ground and the numbers are tiny in comparison: only about 4,000 Indians. The 1990 operation was much more than 10 times that size. “It’s not like we didn’t make mistakes," said Mascarenhas. “We misjudged numbers a lot and, remember, we didn’t have mobile phones there. When people ask me how we did it, I say, I looked up at heaven and said, god help me.”

Source:- Scroll.in - News. Politics. Culture.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

 

[OrionHunter]

Good to note that our SOPs are in place! And that we're following them to the tee!

 

[Jai_Hind]

Good read.... 111,711 passengers in 2 months, thats approx 1860 people are evacuated daily on an average from the war torn region.....

 

[SrNair]

 

[Chanakya's_Chant]

Yemen evacuations over - 4,741 Indians + 1,947 foreign nationals = 6,688 people evacuated!
​

India evacuated 6,688 people from Yemen

Under the operation 'Raahat', 6,688 people were evacuated from Yemen, including 4,741 Indians and 1,947 foreign nationals by air and sea routes.

India evacuated 1,947 people from 48 countries besides 4,741 of its own nationals from war-torn Yemen and the operation was a "resounding success", acknowledged by the international community, government told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Making a suo motu statement, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that after the "successful" conclusion of the evacuation process, India has shifted its embassy from Yemen's capital Sana'a to Djibouti in view of the worsening situation there.

Under the operation 'Raahat', 6,688 people were evacuated from Yemen, including 4,741 Indians and 1,947 foreign nationals by air and sea routes, she said. "I am glad to inform this August House that operation 'Raahat' conducted for the evacuation of Indian nationals from war-torn Yemen has been a resounding success, well- acknowledged by the international community.

"We not only managed to safely evacuate 4,741 Indians but also 1,947 foreign nationals from 48 countries till 18 April under most difficult circumstances," she said. Swaraj said India had received formal requests from 33 countries, including some neighbouring and western nations, for assistance in evacuation of their nationals as the Indian embassy was among the handful of foreign missions operational in Sana'a after the airstrikes began.

"We responded positively to these requests to the extent possible based on ground realities and helped nationals of 48 countries in evacuation," the Minister said. India's approach in the evacuation process has been guided by the spirit of vasudev kutumbakam (the whole world is one), Swaraj said.

While giving details about the evacuation process and related developments, she said, "in view of the worsening security situation in Sana'a and after the successful conclusion of the evacuation process, we have relocated our Embassy to Djibouti on April 15." She said the Indian Embassy would continue to operate from Djibouti till the situation returns to normal in Yemen.

India evacuated 6,688 people from Yemen | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

Operation Rahat: Air India crew narrate experience of conducting evacuation flights​

In the wee hours of August 1, 1990, Air India (AI) cabin crew member Shirin Bhanot* landed at Kuwait International Airport, then checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel with colleagues. A day later, Iraqi Republican Guards overran Kuwait and eventually sparked the Gulf War. What was to be a two-three day layover became an 18-day stay for Bhanot and the flight crew.

"I saw troop movement from my room and Kuwaitis leaving in droves. Shops were looted. There were curfews," says Bhanot, who retired after 33 years of service. "We were asked not to watch TV or use lights that filter from under the door. We later learned it was because Iraqi Republican Guards were staying in the hotel."

Meanwhile, over 1100kms away on August 13 that year, Margaret D'Lima and Rita Nair stood on the stepladder of the Airbus A300 at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan. Air hostesses with erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) – now merged with Air India – they were two of the first lot that brought thousands of Indian and foreign evacuees to India. The month-long rescue effort, during which an estimated 111,000 people were flown from Amman to Mumbai, culminated into the biggest evacuation drive by a civil airliner. It's a Guinness Record that still stands.

"Evacuees came to Amman in buses and vans from Kuwait and Iraq. It was a sea of people, and they just ran towards the IA aircraft when they saw it." Nair remembers. D'Lima adds: "Hardly anybody had passports and luggage. Some even had no shoes. Almost all of them had had no food for days. It was heartrending."

Almost 25 years after the Gulf War, AI crew formed a crucial part of the recently-concluded Operation Rahat (India's Yemen evacuation drive) as they and Indian armed forces rescued approximately 4000 Indians and hundreds of foreign nationals from Yemen in a week. One of them, senior crew member Trishna Sukumar*, was on standby duty before she was told, just after 9pm, to leave for Muscat, Oman with three other crew and then proceed to Djibouti. They had just 45 minutes to get customs and immigration clearances before the 10pm take-off. They managed.

The wait for flight clearance in conflict zones can be harrowing, and Sukumar is testament to this. After spending two days in Muscat and almost three days in Djibouti waiting for the green light to fly to Yemen capital Sana'a, they finally got the nod on April 3, 2015 – after Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh negotiated with Djibouti and Yemen authorities. Evacuees were given just 15 minutes to board by Sana'a International Airport authorities. "Many were crying, but some were relieved. We'd see smoke all around the airport (due to Saudi air strikes) and even hear firing. It wasn't safe. But we couldn't show the fear on our faces," shares Sukumar, who was on duty for 14 days straight.

Not much changed in the way AI conducted flights in Amman and Sana'a, save for one thing: no longer could evacuees board without passports. A purser recalls how passenger manifests in Sana'a were made after people had boarded. "The Indian Embassy in Sana'a arranged for 'emergency passports', which are white in colour, for those who didn't have their original passports. We can't accept anybody without passports."

Stricter passport norms even during crises are for a reason. A captain with the national carrier, who piloted evacuation flights from Tripoli, Cairo and Tunisia, underlines the dangers of such flights. Civilian aircraft wait hours on the tarmac for clearances, during which time vigilance is important. Plane lights may sometimes have to be switched off to avoid detection. "In most crises, there's a shortage of airport staff to conduct checks or frisk passengers. So we're always alert, also on the lookout for firing in the area."

Other challenges include route changes and dealing with Air Traffic Controls (ATCs). Retired Captain Arun Waghmare of (then) IA, who conducted some Amman evacuation flights, recounts a near-miss with a Royal Jordanian (RJ) aircraft due to an error by Saudi ATC officials. "I think they were bugged with the frequency of IA flights as they weren't used to so much traffic. Fortunately the RJ pilot and I spotted one another at around 150ft, and both swerved to avoid a catastrophe."

Despite the risks, Waghmare says such flights are rewarding. He cites the time he convinced officials to permit a woman to get her dog on board as she was inconsolable at having to leave him behind. "I asked some ladies to give their nylon hairbands so we could create a makeshift muzzle. The dog was allowed to travel on the condition that it wouldn't disturb passengers," he laughs.

The responsibilities are endless. And since evacuees' needs come first, many crew themselves go without food for hours on end. At one point, says the AI purser, the crew had divided an apple into 12 segments and distributed it among themselves.

After the 18-day stay in Kuwait, Shirin Bhanot and her fellow crew members were finally driven to Baghdad via Basra after then Foreign Minister IK Gujral gave them clearance. Packed like sardines, they were on the road for 17 hours before things got worse. Their driver, who lost the way, had led them to a military camp. Luckily, the crew's first officer, who knew some Arabic, assured the soldiers they were Indian. "When they heard that, they said 'Shashi Kapoor! Amitabh Bachchan!' Those two names really helped us," chuckles Bhanot.

Five days after she landed in Mumbai, Bhanot went on duty to do the Amman evacuation flights that concluded in mid-October 1990. Wasn't it gruelling after the ordeal she'd been through?

"No, why?" she asks, a shrug in her voice. "In fact the crew who do these flights never complain about them."

Seems true, for it's the purser who signs off with this statement: "It's very fulfilling. The only thing that pinches is when people say 'Air India faltu hai'. We're far from perfect, but maybe we deserve a little respect?"

*names changed on request

Source:- Operation Rahat: Air India crew narrate experience of conducting evacuation flights | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

 

[Alfa-Fighter]

nice to know.....

 

[wiseone2]

The Yemen evacuation effort is a reminder of how India conducted the greatest civilian airlift in history
India evacuated more than 1 lakh citizens from Iraq in the first Gulf War.

​

Photo Credit: Indian Air Force​

An Indian Navy ship sailed "into a barrage of bombs" on Tuesday to dock in Aden as India begins evacuating thousands of its citizens stranded in war-torn Yemen . The complicated operation involves transporting them by ship from Aden to Djibouti, from where the Indians are being flown back on Air Force planes. India also has Air India planes stationed in Muscat to help citizens return home as a Saudi Arabia-led coalition bombs the rebels who have taken over much of Yemen, in situation that has turned into a civil war.

Fortunately, Indian authorities have a fair bit of experience in this matter. Over the past decade, it has rescued citizens from Iraq just before the American invasion in 2003, then again in 2006 in Lebanon, and 2011 in Libya, when ministry officials worked with the Indian Navy to put up sea bridges that evacuated Indians from both war-torn nations. But its greatest achievement in safeguarding Indian citizens stuck in a war zone just happened to take place in the same country that is once again gripped with violence, Iraq.

In two months in 1990, India managed to evacuate more than 110,000 citizens from Iraq and Kuwait via an airlift that included nearly 500 flights. The operation is the largest civilian evacuation in history.

“Whenever we talk of airlifts, the only thing that people talk of is the Berlin Airlift [during the Cold War],” said Retired Air Vice Marshall Manmohan Bahadur. “Of course, the aircraft were primitive and the situation was different back then, yet airlifting one lakh people, as we did in Iraq, is unheard of.”

Embracing Saddam

It began with then-external affairs minister IK Gujral’s infamous visit to Baghdad, soon after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The central thrust of Gujral’s visit was to ensure that Iraq would help facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens from the country, although there were also discussions on trade relations between the two despite the blockade by Western countries.

Gujral’s visit included a famous embrace by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which earned him a lot of flak from the media. KP Fabian, then joint secretary, Gulf, at the external affairs ministry, said that there is no merit in the criticism.

“One cannot 'duck' an embrace from a head of state; it is a question of courtesy and manners,” Fabian told the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. Whether the embrace was right or wrong, Iraq ended up facilitating the evacuation.

The Indian embassy began reaching out to the thousands of Indians who were living primarily in Kuwait, which was then under Iraqi occupation. A few military flights were arranged at first, with leaders in the Indian community working with the embassy to pick out the infirm, elderly, women and children to fly back. But once they had all returned to India, the government realised that military transport – which is much more cumbersome because of air space clearances – would not do the job.

Civilian route

So they settled on an airlift using civilian aircraft. Which meant turning to Air India. “You should have seen us,” said MP Mascarenhas, who organised the operation, as the airline’s regional director in the Gulf & Middle East. “We were operating out of a hotel room in Amman with very little space and carrying out all our operations from there.” He would later become Air India's managing director. “We had very little assistance from the embassy, other than issuing passports, but we had very good relations with the local authorities, who helped us.”

And they needed all the help they could get. Initially just a few flights were being flown and many thought that the situation might not require everyone to be evacuated. But Indians remaining behind in Kuwait City were beginning to have a difficult time because of the occupation.

Soft corners

“The Iraqis had a soft corner for us, so we were spared the worst, but there were others – like the Palestinian expatriates – who started to loot and steal,” said Agnel Rebello, who works as a regional finance manager for a multinational company and has been in Kuwait since 1980. “At one point, I had a person hold a gun to me, telling me to give him my car. Luckily, I had removed some parts so he couldn’t start it.”

Buses organised by those in the Indian community, with the tacit agreement of the Iraqi government, started shepherding those who wanted to leave through Basra, Baghdad and eventually the Jordanian border. From there, they poured into Amman, where the planes were set to take off.

“We were quite demoralised initially,” said Mascarenhas. “We started to see the refugees pouring in. Some managed to stay at hotels, but others were even camping at the airport. When we landed in Amman, there were already 5,000 to 7,000 Indians there and the numbers started swelling immediately.” Eventually, Air India would fly 488 flights over 59 days, carrying 111,711 passengers. Western historians write eloquently and in great detail of the Berlin airlift, which took nearly two years to pull out about 48,000 people, but Mascarenhas says the Indian operation also deserves to be noted.

The current situation is more manageable. There is more information on the ground and the numbers are tiny in comparison: only about 4,000 Indians. The 1990 operation was much more than 10 times that size. “It’s not like we didn’t make mistakes," said Mascarenhas. “We misjudged numbers a lot and, remember, we didn’t have mobile phones there. When people ask me how we did it, I say, I looked up at heaven and said, god help me.”

Source:- Scroll.in - News. Politics. Culture.

that is a job well done