698 Indians repatriated from Maldives arrives at Kochi harbour through INS Jalashwa.

On Sunday, Indian Navy's warship, INS Jalashwa brought back 698 Indian nationals from the capital of Maldives, Male to Kochi harbour in Kerala. The warship had set sail on Friday night from Male to the Kochi harbour, carrying 698 Indians of which 19 were pregnant women. Along with the luggage of the passengers, the vessel also was completely sanitized and a rigorous checkup of all the stranded nationals was done upon its arrival at Male on Thursday. Operation Samudra Setu was launched by the Indian Army to bring back the stranded nationals and 14 such navy ships have been readied. All the precautions, protocols and guidelines are being followed in lieu with suspected coronavirus patients. 

At 9:45 AM, the ship reached Kochi, on Sunday. Passengers saluted the Indian Navy for taking extensive care of them; a passenger said, "I would like to thank the Indian government and the Navy for bringing us back to the country. I am sure those stranded in the Maldives will come back soon." Another passenger shared their experience by saying, "We are safe now. We had a nice experience. The staff was very friendly. They took good care of us." The High Commission of India in the Maldives stated that an evacuation service charge of USD 40 was taken from the Indian nationals. Indian envoy to Maldives, Sunjay Sudhir said, "I am grateful to the Indian Navy for launching Operation Samudra Setu to evacuate around 2,000 Indians from Maldives". 

Another the warship, INS Magar, is expected to reach Male today to repatriate other stranded nationals. 4000 Indians have registered to be taken home of the 27000 living in the Maldives. This is part of the initial phase of Operation Samudra Setu, as the government aims to bring back 15000 Indians from 12 countries in the coming weeks.