Covid-19 relief supplies arrive onboard naval warships at Indian ports

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: More medical supplies for Covid patients are on their way with Indian Naval Ship (INS) Airavat, INS Trikand reaching Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively and INS Kolkata approaching New Mangalore Karnataka to deliver the supplies under Operation Samudra Setu-II.

Commander Vivek Madhwal, Spokesperson, Indian Navy, said, “Three Indian Naval warships together will deliver supplies including four 27-MT oxygen-filled containers, eight 20 T cryogenic oxygen tanks (empty), 900 filled oxygen cylinders, 3,150 oxygen cylinders (empty), 10,000 Rapid Antigen Test kits, 54 oxygen concentrators and 450 PPE kits from Qatar, Kuwait and Singapore.”

Carrying the largest consignment, INS Airavat reached Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in the morning with eight 20 T cryogenic oxygen tanks (empty) 3,898 oxygen cylinders (empty), 500 filled oxygen cylinders, seven oxygen concentrators, 10,000 Rapid Antigen Test kits and 450 PPE kits from Singapore. The ship departed Singapore on May 5 with oxygen tanks and cylinders sourced through various agencies in coordination with the High Commission of India.

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Around the same time, INS Trikand reached Mumbai, Maharashtra with two 27-MT oxygen-filled containers from Qatar.

INS Kolkata is arriving in New Mangalore, Karnataka with two 27 MT oxygen-filled containers, 400 oxygen cylinders and 47 oxygen concentrators from Qatar and Kuwait.

The navy has deployed its nine warships under Operation Samudra Setu-II.

The deployed ships – INS Talwar, INS Kolkata, INS Airavat, INS Kochi, INS Tabar, INS Trikand, INS Jalashwa and INS Shardul – will ferry oxygen containers/cylinders/concentrators and related equipment from friendly foreign countries. INS Talwar was the first to deliver oxygen at New Mangalore on May 5.

Bahrain, Brunei, Qatar, Kuwait and Singapore are some of the friendly countries that made the supplies available.

As per the Indian Navy, the loading of oxygen containers and other medical supplies has also been planned on INS Tarkash, INS Shardul and INS Jalashwa from Doha, Kuwait and Muara, Brunei respectively in the coming days.

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The Indian Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu-II to assist in the Covid fight on May 3.

Operation Samudra Setu had been launched last year by the Navy to rescue Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Around 4,000 stranded citizens were successfully brought back to India.