New Delhi: India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj brought cheers on International Women’s Day by announcing that a Catholic nun stranded in Yemen was safety evacuated.
“Sister Sally has been evacuated from Yemen,” Swaraj tweeted on March 8.
The nun was the superior of a Missionaries of Charity convent in Aden, a port city in southern Yemen, that was attacked by suspected Islamic militants four days ago, killing four other nuns and 12 others.
The victims worked in a home for the elderly managed by the congregation founded by the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata.
Sister Sally, a native of Kerala, escaped by hiding in a refrigerator after a guard alerted her about the attack.
The gunmen reported abducted a Salesian priest from India who was staying at the convent at the time of the attack.
Swaraj had asserted earlier that India would make all efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil.
“Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have an Embassy there. But we will spare no efforts to rescue Father Tom Uzhunnalil,” Sushma had tweeted.
An Indian nun from Jharkhand was among the four nuns who were massacred by unidentified gunmen at a retirement home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Yemen.
Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the Indian Government will shift out Sister Sally as soon as possible.
Speaking to reporters Chandy said that after he spoke to Swaraj, Indian officials from Djibouti have established contacts with Sister Sally.
“I managed to speak to Sister Sally a while ago and she said that she has been contacted by Indian Embassy officials from Djibouti who are expected to come to take her with them on Monday. She said that things are not that smooth where she is and there is no information about Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kottayam district and was taken away by the gunmen,” the chief minister said.