Operation Samudra Setu II: Warship with oxygen supplies reaches Karnataka

Nine warships have been deployed in total to ferry medical oxygen

The Indian Navy has deployed ships from all three of its naval commands in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi, to ferry liquid medical oxygen and other Covid-related items from friendly foreign countries in the Persian Gulf and South-East Asia, a statement from the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The deployments are part of the defence ministry's efforts to alleviate the shortage of medical oxygen as India reels from an explosion in Covid cases. The efforts—labelled ‘Operation Samudra Setu II’—have led to the deployment of nine warships in total so far.

Earlier today on the Western Seaboard, Indian Naval Ship Talwar entered the port of New Mangalore ferrying two 27-ton liquid oxygen tanks from Bahrain. INS Kolkata, deployed in the Persian Gulf, also departed Kuwait today carrying two 27-ton oxygen tanks, 400 Oxygen cylinders and 47 concentrators. Also, four warships are also on their way to Qatar and Kuwait, to ferry around nine 27-ton Oxygen tanks and more than 1500 oxygen cylinders from the two countries, the statement said.

On the Eastern Seaboard, Indian Naval Ship Airavat, departed from Singapore today with more than 3600 oxygen cylinders, eight 27-ton oxygen tanks, 10,000 rapid antigen detection test kits and seven concentrators. INS Jalashwa is on standby in the region, according to the statement.

INS Shardul, the Landing Ship Tank of the Southern Naval Command at Kochi, is also on its way to the Persian Gulf to bring three liquid oxygen filled cryogenic containers, the statement added.