The Indian Navy on Wednesday repatriated 687 Indians from Iran as part of the Samudra Setu mission to evacuate stranded Indian citizens living abroad.
Indian Navy Ship Jalashwa repatriated the Indian nationals, most of them who are fishermen from Iran and arrived today at the V. O. Chidambaranar Port in Tamil Nadu. The ship had left Bandar Abbas in Iran on June 25.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, "651 fishermen are from Tamil Nadu, while 36 others hailed from Kerala". In a tweet, he said, "Appreciate the support of the Iranian government in facilitating the repatriation….under Operation #Samudrasetu".
On arrival, the passengers were screened by the Port Health officials and their luggage was sanitised. After completion of Immigration and Customs formalities, they were taken to their respective districts by buses.
The Indian Navy has deployed its ships 'Jalashwa' and 'Airawat' to carry stranded Indians from different parts of the world like the Maldives and Sri Lanka and has so far repatriated about 4,000 such persons, the Navy said.
