The Indian Embassy in Yemen secured the safe evacuation of 19 Indian seafarers stranded across the conflict-torn cities of Hodeidah and Sana'a for two weeks, clearing their passage back to India on Sunday.
"All seafarers are safe, in good health, and on their way back to India," the Indian mission announced, commending local authorities and international partners for facilitating the transit out of contested territory. The breakthrough resolves a tense fortnight for merchant crew members trapped amid volatile frontline territory.
The evacuation follows a murky maritime encounter off Yemen's western coast. On October 23, the Indian mission confirmed that 14 Indian nationals aboard a yacht near Hodeidah were safe after an offshore emergency near Yuqar Island in the Red Sea. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed that Saudi forces targeted the vessel before Houthi units intervened to recover the crew. Indian diplomatic authorities have not specified whether those 14 crew members were folded into the broader cohort of 19 evacuated on Sunday, noting only that diplomats maintained continuous contact with all operating parties to pull the sailors out of harm's way.
The rescue unfolds against a sharp deterioration in regional maritime security. Clashes between Saudi-led coalition forces and Houthi fighters have reignited along the Red Sea littoral, fracturing the relative calm established under a 2022 truce. Missiles, drones, and coalition airstrikes have repeatedly rattled transit lanes near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, imperiling commercial merchant crews operating through one of the world's tightest nautical chokepoints.
Civilian sailors have paid a grim price. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that 23 Indian nationals have died in the ongoing West Asia conflict, including 15 merchant seafarers caught in strikes across contested waterways. Another five Indian sailors died following missile attacks on commercial ships navigating the Black Sea, while two remain missing.
"We have lost 23 Indian nationals in the conflict in West Asia, out of which 15 were Indian seafarers," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a press briefing in New Delhi, detailing the rising hazards confronting Indian labor on global shipping routes.
Diplomatic officials in New Delhi and regional outposts are monitoring the final air and sea transit legs for the 19 evacuated sailors, whose arrival in India is scheduled over the coming days as maritime security advisories for the southern Red Sea remain on high alert.