INS Magar arrives at Male to evacuate 200 Indian citizens from Maldives

Nearly 200 Indian citizens stranded in Maldives will be brought back to India under operation Samudra Setu

INS Magar, the second naval ship of the Indian Navy's Operation Samudra Setu to evacuate stranded Indian Nationals from Maldives and ensure their smooth and safe passage back to India, arrived at Male Port today.

INS Magar, an LST(L) designed for landing operations, had made all the necessary logistic, medical and administrative preparations at her base port Kochi to comfortably accommodate civilians before setting sail towards Maldives.

A separate mess has been allotted for women, infants and senior citizens in INS Magar

The ship will evacuate about 200 citizens while ensuring all precautions related to COVID-19 including social distancing norms being followed. An entirely separate section of the ship with essential facilities like food and washrooms has been prepared to accommodate the evacuees and a separate mess has been allotted for ladies, infants and senior citizens. Additional precautions have been taken by dividing the evacuees into groups to avoid crowding at common areas like dining hall, bathrooms etc.

Concurrently, the first ship carrying evacuees from Maldives, INS Jalashwa reached Kochi harbour this morning with 698 Indian citizens.

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