MV Kavaratti

The MV Kavaratti is a cruise ship that operates between the city of Kochi and the Lakshadweep islands.[1] The ship was built in Hindustan shipyard Limited, Visakhapatnam and is painted white.

MV Kavaratti is a Cruise Ship which provides service between Kochi and Lakshadweep

MV Kavaratti, was designed especially for the Lakshadweep Islands to promote tourism. The 120 meter long ship with a total carrying capacity of 700 passengers and 200 tons of cargo is the largest passenger vessel ever created in India that is built with a total estimated cost of Rs. 173 crore INR.

The Ship has six decks, the topmost being an open deck with the bridge and a helipad. The 3rd, 4th and the 5th deck have two bed cabins whereas the 1st and the 2nd deck have bunk beds and lower class cabins. There is a swimming pool on the 5th deck. There is a recreation hall at the front side and a cafeteria at the rear side on the 4th deck. A hospital and an information desk are on the 3rd deck. Main embarkation door is at 3rd deck and secondary embarkation doors are at the 1st deck.

Operation Raahat

This section is an excerpt from Operation Raahat ยง Response.[edit]
Indian evacuees lining up for embarkation on INS Sumitra.
Indian evacuees along with their belongings at jetty before embarking on INS Sumitra.

As Yemen was not accessible by air due to a no-fly zone, India chose Djibouti as a centre for initial evacuation by sea. Indians in Yemen were advised to reach Sana'a and Aden. The Indian Navy redeployed the patrol vessel INS Sumitra (P59) from anti-piracy operations off the coast of Lakshadweep to the Yemeni port of Aden. In addition, it dispatched the destroyer INS Mumbai (D62) (Captain Rajesh Dhankhar) and frigate INS Tarkash (F50) (Captain Pradeep Singh) from Mumbai to provide protection and support to Indian ships and aircraft in the conflict zone. Both sailed 1,350 nautical miles (2,500 km; 1,550 mi) in four days to reach Yemen. The Indian Air Force deployed two C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft with a capacity of 600 passengers to Djibouti.[2][3]

Two ferries belonging to the Lakshadweep administration, MV Kavaratti and MV Corals, with a capacity of 1,500 passengers were dispatched to Aden.[4][5] In addition, two Air India Airbus A320 aircraft were also deployed to Muscat in neighboring Oman.[6]

On 1 April 2015, INS Sumitra reached Aden to evacuate 349 Indians. When Air India was permitted to fly to Yemen on 3 April 2015, it began evacuating people from Sana'a to Djibouti and Djibouti to Mumbai or Kochi. Two C-17 Globemasters flew nine sorties to Mumbai and two to Kochi from Djibouti. On 4 April 2015, INS Mumbai reached Aden but was unable to dock due to shelling, so the people were ferried to the ship in small boats.[2]

Indian Navy personnel registering Indian citizens evacuating from Yemen.

Over the days more than 4,640 overseas Indians were evacuated along with 960 foreign nationals from more than 41 countries.[7][8] Some of them did not have the operational capability to carry out a rescue operation, so they sought India's help. These countries included: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Slovenia, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Thailand, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of a total of 5,600 people, 2,900 Indians were evacuated by 18 special flights from Sana'a and 1,670 Indians by Indian Navy ships from four ports.[2][9][10] 11 Indians were evacuated by the Pakistan Navy frigate PNS Aslat from Mukalla, reached Karachi, and were flown back to India on 8 April 2015.[11][12][9][13] The air evacuation ended on 9 April 2015 while the sea evacuation ended on 11 April 2015.[14] 200 Indians refused to leave Yemen for various reasons.[15]

The following table gives details of evacuations carried out by the Indian Navy, but does not include air evacuations:[16]

Date of evacuation Port of evacuation Ship Arrival at Djibouti Evacuees
Indians Foreigners Total
31 March Aden Sumitra 1 April 349 0 349
2 April Al Hudaydah Sumitra 3 April 306 11 317
4 April Aden Mumbai 4 April 265 176 441
5 April Ash Shihr Sumitra 5 April 182 21 203
6 April Al Hudaydah Mumbai 6 April 463 11 474
7 April Al Hudaydah Tarkash 8 April 54 20 74
9 April Al Hudaydah Sumitra 10 April 46 303 349
10 April Aden Tarkash 11 April 42 422 464
15 April Al Hudaydah Sumitra 16 April 76 327 403
Total 1783 1291 3074

INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash returned to Mumbai harbour on 16 and 18 April 2015, respectively, after completing Operation Raahat.

MV Kavaratti and MV Corals arrived in Kochi on 18 April. The ships had helped evacuate 475 passengers including 73 Indians, 337 Bangladeshis, and 65 Yemeni citizens of Indian origin.[17]

References

  1. ^ "MV Kavaratti passengers stranded in Kochi". The New Indian Express. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Explained: How India evacuated 5000 stranded in Yemen". The Indian Express. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Indian ship in periphery of Yemen waters, awaits local clearance". First Post. 31 March 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  4. ^ "New Delhi will send two ships to Yemen to evacuate stranded Indians". The Times of India. 27 March 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Delhi sends 2 ships to conflict-hit Yemen to evacuate Indians". The Times of India. 30 March 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  6. ^ Oman, Times of (7 April 2015). "Salalah transit for Indian rescue flight from Yemen". Times of Oman. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  7. ^ "India evacuates 4,640 nationals, 960 others from Yemen". www.oneindia.com. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  8. ^ Kumar, Hari (10 April 2015). "India Concludes Evacuation of Its Citizens From Yemen". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  9. ^ a b "India evacuates 232 foreigners including Americans, Europeans from Yemen". The Times of India. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Czechs seek help from India in Yemen". Prague Post & The Voice of Prague. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  11. ^ "India appreciates Pakistan's gesture of evacuating its nationals from Yemen". The Times of India. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Yemen crisis: Number of Indian evacuees reach 4000 mark". Zee News. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  13. ^ "4,000 Indians rescued so far, Yemen air evacuation op to end on Wed". hindustantimes.com. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  14. ^ "India Pulls Off Great Escape in Yemen, 4000 Evacuated From War Zone". NDTV. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  15. ^ "Yemen: India ends Operation 'Rahat', 200 refuse to leave". Sify. 11 April 2015. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  16. ^ "IN Ships return to Hero's Welcome". indiannavy.nic.in. Indian Navy. 18 April 2015. Archived from the original on 24 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  17. ^ "MV Kavararatti and MV Corals arrive at Kochi". indiannavy.nic.in. Indian Navy. 18 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2015.