Warship from Maldives with virus evacuees arrives in India

KOCHI: A navy ship carrying evacuees from the Maldives arrived in India Sunday as part of a massive effort to bring home hundreds of thousands of nationals stranded overseas due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Workers and students were unable to return home after India banned all incoming international flights in late March as part of the world´s biggest lockdown to combat the spread of the deadly infectious disease. The warship INS Jalashwa carrying 698 Indians from the Maldives capital of Male arrived at Cochin port on the southwestern coast of India on Sunday morning. It followed the arrival of 326 Indians from London early Sunday at Mumbai´s international airport. Another warship, INS Magar, is expected to arrive at Male Sunday to repatriate more stranded Indians. Around 4,000 of the 27,000 Indians living in the Maldives have registered to be taken home. The naval efforts are part of an initial operation to repatriate almost 15,000 Indians from 12 countries. The repatriation process is expected to be expanded in the next few weeks to include more stranded citizens in other European and Southeast Asian nations, local media reported.