ERNAKULAM : Indian Navy's INS Jalashwa on Sunday arrived at Kochi Harbour (Ernakulam district) bringing back 698 expats stranded in Male, Maldives.
It is the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise amid the covid outbreak and part of 'Samudra Setu' program under the Vande Bharat mission to rescue stranded Indians, billed as the world's largest repatriation activity.
It is also the largest lot of expat arriving at Kerala in a single day. The numbers of returnees are expected to rise even more by the end of the day.
A second ship of the Indian navy, INS Magar, is also scheduled to arrive in from the Maldives for Kochi later on Sunday. Separately, Cargo and passenger ship, MV Arabian Sea also arrived from Lakshadweep carrying 121