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New Delhi: INA Jalashwa of the Indian Navy entered the port of Male in the Maldives on Thursday morning to evacuate Indian citizens as part of the Samudra Setu program. The ship will depart for Kochi from the Maldives on Friday with nearly 1,000 Indian nationals on board left stranded due to the blockade imposed to contain the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus.
In view of the prevailing blockade, the Indian Navy was assigned the task of evacuating stranded Indian citizens from the Maldives as part of phase one beginning on May 8. Indian naval ships Jalashwa and Magar made their way to the Maldivian capital on May 5.
A total of 14 ships have been kept ready to bring stranded citizens from the Gulf countries and two of them sailed early on May 5.
#INSJalashwa entering the port of Male for the first phase in Operation #SamudraSetu to repatriate Indians from the Maldives.@MEAIndia @DrSJaishankar @harshvshringla @indiannavy pic.twitter.com/D7r8lUrJxf
– India in the Maldives (@HCIMaldives) May 7, 2020
These ships have arranged according to the established standard protocol for dealing with people suspected of Covid, such as social distancing and disinfection. The Indian Navy has removed non-essential equipment to accommodate evacuees.
In addition, INS Shardul attached to the Southern Naval Command has also pledged and is to bring stranded citizens to Dubai.
There are 14 boats waiting and waiting for the indications of the central government. “They would start sailing once the government issues instructions,” he said as a senior Indian Navy official.
Operation ‘Samudra Setu’.@indiannavy Boat #INSJalashwa arrived at the port of #Male, #Maldives today. Op phase 1 #SamudraSetu would start from tomorrow May 8, 20.# हरकामदेशकेनाम@SpokespersonMoD @MEAIndia @MoHFW_INDIA@PIBHomeAffairs@PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/zrJB42x6OQ
– SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 7, 2020
The Indian Navy has carried out similar evacuation operations from abroad on previous occasions, as part of Operation Sukoon in 2006 and Operation Rahat in 2015.
The Navy had made evacuation efforts in war-torn areas such as Lebanon (2006) and Yemen (2015). Before that, the evacuation took place in 1990 during the first Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait, where around 1.5 lakh people were evacuated.
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