Operation Sankat Mochan ( hi, संकट मोचन lit. crisis redemption) was an operation of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

to evacuate

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n citizens and other foreign nationals from

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

during the

South Sudanese Civil War The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. ...

. The operation was carried out in view of 2016 Juba clashes.

Background

There were around 600 Indians in

; around 450 in

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

and others elsewhere in the country.

Operation

Two C-17 Globemasters of the

were deployed to evacuate. The first flight left

on 15 July (South Sudan Time) carrying 143 individuals including 10 women and 3 infants. It landed in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

on 16 July.

References

2016 in military history Non-combat military operations involving India 2016 in India 2016 in South Sudan Evacuations of Indians Airlifts History of the foreign relations of India Indian diaspora in Asia 2016 in aviation 2016 in foreign relations of India Aviation history of India Modi administration India–South Sudan relations South Sudanese Civil War Operations involving the Indian Air Force Non-combatant evacuation operations {{India-mil-stub