Indian Navy Ship 'Jalashwa' on Sunday repatriated 700 Indian nationals stranded in Maldives, making its second port call at the VOC Port here with a similar exercise this week.
INS Jalashwa had earlier this week brought stranded Indians from Sri Lanka and has repatriated about 2700 Indians so far as part of the navy's "Operation Samudra Setu" initiative.
The bulk of the repatriated persons, 686, hailed from Tamil Nadu while the others belonged to Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, VOC Port officials said. The ship left Port of Male on June 5 and arrived here on Sunday.
On arrival, the passengers were screened by the Port Health Officials and their luggage was sanitised as part of the health protocols. They were later sent to their respective districts by designated buses, official sources said.
The Indian Navy, under its ambitious "Operation Samudra Setu" programme, had repatriated Indian nationals from the Maldives and Sri Lanka in its two vessels--INS Jalashwa and INS Magar on May 10, May 12, May 17 and June 2.
This was part of the Centre's initiative to repatriate stranded Indians in foreign countries through air and sea routes.
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