India begins ‘Operation Indravati’ to evacuate its nationals from Haiti

New Delhi: India has started Operation Indravati to evacuate its nationals from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday and asserted that it was “fully committed” to the security and well-being of Indians abroad.

The move comes days after India had said it was looking at evacuating up to 90 of its nationals from Haiti in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Caribbean nation.

“India begins Operation Indravati to evacuate its nationals from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. 12 Indians evacuated today. Fully committed to the security and well-being of our nationals abroad. Thank the Government of the Dominican Republic for their support,” Jaishankar said in a post on X.

He also shared a photograph along with his post.

Various gangs have launched coordinated attacks on key installations in Haiti in an attempt to force the resignation of the country’s embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

India doesn’t have an embassy in Haiti and the situation in the country is being monitored by the Indian mission at Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

There are between 75 and 90 Indians in Haiti and about 60 of them have registered with Indian authorities to return to India “if need be”, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said at his weekly media briefing on March 15.

“We are ready to evacuate everybody,” he had said.