Operation Samudra Setu: INS Magar, carrying 202 Indian nationals, enters Kochi harbour

INS Magar, the Indian Naval ship which departed from Male, Maldives on Sunday carrying 202 Indian nationals, entered Kochi harbour in Kerala on Tuesday, in the second part of repatriation under Operation Samudra Setu.

"#VandeBharatMission #MoDAgainstCorona #INS Magar docked at Samudrika Cruise Terminal of #CPT #Kochi harbour, ready to disembark 202 expatriates from the Maldives safely back home as part of Operation #SamudraSetu," tweeted Defence Public Relations Officer, Visakhapatnam.

Of 202 personnel who had embarked the ship, 24 were women, two expectant mothers and two children.

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 on May 10 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.

( With inputs from ANI )