INS Magar with 202 Indians on board departs for Kochi
May 10, 2020
Male [Maldives], May 10 : INS Magar, the second Indian Naval ship to reach Male for repatriation of Indians citizens, has departed for Kochi with 202 personnel on board in the second part of repatriation mission by the India Navy.
Even as heavy rains at Male made conditions difficult, the ship made arrangements to ensure safety of people, according to a release.
A total of 202 personnel have embarked the ship, which includes 24 women, two expectant mothers and two children. One of the men, who hails from Tamil Nadu, has a fractured leg.
In line with the procedure followed on May 8, the evacuees were screened medically, their baggage disinfected and were allotted IDs as per various zones earmarked on board the ship. Magar, the second naval ship of the Indian Navy's Op Samudra Setu arrived at Male Port earlier today.
INS Magar, an LST(L) designed for landing operations, had made all necessary logistic, medical and administrative preparations at her base port Kochi to comfortably accommodate civilians before setting sail towards Maldives.
The first ship, INS Jalashwa reached Kochi harbour this morning with 698 Indian citizens.
The entire exercise is part of Vande Bharat Mission of the Government of India for repatriation of Indian nationals from the Middle East and Maldives in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic.
The Government of India started operation Vande Bharat Mission to bring back around 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries on 64 AI flights.
