NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, JUNE 23
As many as 198 Indians stranded in Maldives were brought to V.O. Chidambaranar port in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday morning by INS Airavat, said a Defence official.
The repatriation is part of Operation Samudra Setu under the Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians stranded in other countries as the flights were grounded to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
#IndianNavy #OperationSamudraSetu
INS Airavat, arriving fm Male at alongside berth in Tuticorin @SpokespersonMoD @indiannavy @DDNewsGujarati @PIBAhmedabad @DDNewslive @tv9gujarati @Zee24Kalak @shripadynaik @abpasmitatv @ANI @aajtak @TimesNow @TOIAhmedabad https://t.co/etfGDQSyJt pic.twitter.com/BxyDJL3WIV— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) June 23, 2020
The ship had left the Male port on Monday. The passengers on disembarkation were screened by the port health officials. Their luggage was also sanitized.
As per the protocol, the passengers at the port terminal were asked to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones and other formalities were also carried out.
Earlier this month nearly 700 Indians stranded in Maldives and a similar number of Indians stranded in Sri Lanka were brought to Tuticorin by the Navy.