As part of Vande Bharat Mission, INS Jalashwa of the Indian Navy will sail from Colombo port in Sri Lanka carrying around 700 Indian nationals to Tuticorin on the 1st of next month. This will be the first voyage of the ship from Sri Lanka, as part of Operation Samudra Setu.
Earlier, three ships had evacuated around 1500 people from neighboring Maldives. The Indian High Commission in Colombo has requested the support of Sri Lankan authorities in carrying out the evacuation exercise. An Air India flight to Mumbai is scheduled for next Friday while more flights are being planned for evacuation. The High Commission said priority will be given to compelling cases in distress including migrant workers who have been laid off, medical emergencies, students, and those suffering personal losses. There are around 1200 Indian nationals registered with the Indian High Commission for evacuation due to the COVID crisis and have been waiting to return home. Around a hundred of them are tourists who came on holiday but got stuck due to the stoppage of international flights.
