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SANAA, Yemen, March 31 (UPI) -- India has deployed five ships, four planes and asked for Saudi Arabia's help to evacuate about 4,000 Indian nationals, more than half of them nurses, who are stranded in war-torn Yemen. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with King Salman of Saudi Arabia via telephone and asked for the country's "support and cooperation in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Yemen."
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Salman agreed to give all possible assistance, according to Modi's office. The aircraft used in the evacuation will have a three-hour window in which they have been assured safe passage.
Two passenger Air India airplanes will be used in the evacuation. Two of the Indian Air Force's C-17 Globemaster transport planes, which can carry about 180 people, are stationed in Djibouti awaiting to evacuate people.
Two ships, currently in Kochi, have been deployed. They can carry 200 people each.
The Indian Navy's INS Mumbai destroyer and INS Tarkash stealth frigate have departed from Mumbai to assist evacuation efforts and to join the patrol vessel INS Sumitra, which is already in the region.
About 400 Indian nationals have been evacuated. They were taken by ship from the port city of Aden, Yemen, to Djibouti and then flown to India.
