New Delhi: The External Affairs Ministry of India has sought the help of the Embassy of Yemen in New Delhi and other groups for the release of a Salesian priest, who was abducted by Islamic militants.

“You would appreciate that Yemen is presently under war-like situation. This is especially so in Aden where law and order situation has completely broken down,” says a letter the ministry has sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) that has been pressing the Indian government for the release of Father Tom Uzhunnalil.

Suspected ISIS terrorists took away the 57-year-old priest from a Mother Teresa center in Aden, a southern port city in Yemen, after gunning down 16 people, including four nuns, on March 4.

The CBCI Friday shared with Matters India the April 6 letter from the ministry that assured the Indian Church that the government continues to make “all efforts for the early release of Father Tom (Uzhunnalil).”

The letter signed by Mridul Kumar, Joint Secretary dealing with the Persian Gulf region, said the attempts to save the priest is part of the ministry’s “earnest endeavor to provide all possible assistance for the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad.”

The Indian official noted that immediately after being alerted about Fr Uzhunnalil’s abduction the government had directed its camp office Djibouti, a country located in the Horn of Africa, to take up with Yemeni authorities in Aden “for tracing and early release” of the Catholic priest unharmed from the abductors.

The camp office, in turn, contacted the Medicine Sans Frontiers and local Yemeni authorities in Aden, noted the ministry’s letter addressed to CBCI deputy secretary general Monsignor Joseph Chinnayyan.

“We have also requested Embassy of Yemen in New Delhi to approach Yemeni authorities for early release of Father Tom. We have also sought assistance of other relevant people and authorities,” the letter added.

Monsignor Chinnayyan had met the ministry officials on March 28 to seek the government’s urgent intervention to trace and rescue Fr Uzhunnalil.

Five days later, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, assured a five-member CBCI delegation that the priest was safe, dispelling the rumors about his crucifixion on Good Friday.

Monsignor Chinnayyan led the delegation that expressed the Indian Church’s “deep concern and distress” over the fate of Fr. Uzhunnalil.