Armed forces: Navy ready with a evacuation plan for Indians stranded in Gulf

The armed forces are prepared to bring back the Indians stranded at COVID-19 affected countries in West Asia by establishing a sea bridge with the warships and aircraft.

“We have a large Diaspora in the Gulf for whom we were told to prepare an evacuation plan. We will go ahead with the evacuation once we receive a go-ahead from the Ministry of External Affairs. The exercise will be carried out in accordance with the plans drawn up by the MEA,” Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said here on Friday.

Admiral Singh said both Indian Air Force and Air India would be a part of the evacuation without disclosing much about the plan. The exercise may involve multiple trips.

However, the number of Indians stranded in the Gulf countries wasn’t shared.

The three Service Chiefs and Gen Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Defence Staff addressed the medic sharing the plans of how the Army, Navy, and IAF would express their solidarity with the frontline fighters for the COVID-19 battle.

On May 3 – the day lockdown 2.0 ends – the IAF will conduct a flypast from Srinagar to Trivandrum and another one starting from Dibrugarh in Assam to Kutch in Gujarat. The fly-past will include both transport and fighter aircraft. During the fly-past, the aircraft will also shower flower petals at some places.

In the same evening, the Navy warships deployed in formations in coastal areas would be lit up. The sea faring force will also shower petals on hospitals using their choppers.

The Army will conduct mountain band displays in COVID-19 hospitals in almost every district of the country. The armed forces will also lay a wreath at the police memorial on May 3 in support of the police forces.

The plan of action was finalised at a meeting earlier in the day in presence of the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Admiral Singh and Army Chief Gen M M Naravane pointed out that the men infected by the Covid-19 virus had either recovered or were on the path of recovery.