Porbandar, June 11: Under its next phase of Operation Samudra Setu, Indian Navy's INS Shardul completed a journey of over 1,650 km to evacuate 233 stranded Indian citizens from Bandar Abbas Port, Iran. With this, the Indian Navy has successfully repatriated over 3,000 citizens in the midst of the lockdown.
The Indian Mission in Iran had prepared a list of the compatriots to be evacuated and facilitated their embarkation after the medical screening before the naval ship departed on Monday to repatriate the citizens.
All the social distancing regulations were taken care of in the ship along with additional medical staff, rations, personal protective equipment, face-masks, lifesaving gear, etc. equipment such as the ones developed by the Navy are also being carried. The evacuated Indians would be provided the basic amenities and medical facilities till Porbandar.
Other facilities included special isolation compartments were earmarked for any contingencies, stringent protocols are also being stipulated to deal with asymptomatic cases.
Most of these Indians returning back are fishermen mostly belonging to Gujarat. Others included a few of the seafarers and workers. A team consisting of 15 members from the Indian mission in Tehran and consulates in Bandar Abbas and Zahedan are there to coordinate the evacuation.
The second phase of Samudra Setu from Iran is specifically concerned to facilitate the return of fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
It is being reported that more than 1,000 Indian fishermen live in Iran’s southern provinces of Hormozgan and Bushehr. These fishermen are located in a geographical area of around 500 km and live in remote areas such as Asaluyeh, Chiruyeh, Charak, Lavan island, Moqam, Bustaneh, and, Kish island.
These fishermen prevail from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Kerala. In order to fulfill their financial needs, they went to Iran. However, the Indian mission there is in constant touch with these fishermen during the COVID-19 pandemic and had provided essential supplies to them in March despite the lockdown and other restrictions.
Other naval ships Jalashwa and Magar have already evacuated 2874 Indians from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to ports of Kochi and Tuticorin.
It was reported earlier that INS Jalashwa, which was on its third trip to Male, Maldives returned back to Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu carrying 700 Indian citizens under the same operation.
In the last month, the same ship carried 698 Indian nationals stranded in the Maldives had arrived at Kochi on Sunday. In yet another massive evacuation exercise from overseas during the lockdown was from Male that concluded its second voyage which came back with 588 Indians.
Meanwhile, the INS Jalashwa not only evacuated the nationals from Male but also from Sri Lanka. It continued with its third trip for another repatriation of stranded Indians as it departed Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday evening. It is repatriated 685 Indian nationals.