Stranded tourists on Andaman islands being moved to safety

Thousands of tourists, who have been stranded at Havelock and Neil islands in the Andamans since Friday owing to hostile weather conditions, are being brought back here, a top police officer said Sunday.

The Indian Coast Guard, along with the Navy and Andaman & Nicobar (A &N) Islands administration, ferried the tourists to Port Blair in multiple vessels, DGP Deependra Pathak said.

According to Met office sources, a deep depression that developed to the west of Andamans on Friday had made it difficult for ships to sail, leaving thousand of tourists marooned on the two islands, which are about 30-40 nautical miles from the capital city.

"Rescue operations began on Saturday as soon as the weather showed improvement,"Pathak said, adding that the last batch of stranded tourists left for Port Blair Sunday morning, he added.

On Saturday, nearly 1,100 tourists were ferried safely to Port Blair from Havelock by Coral Queen, ICG and other Naval vessels.

Also, 135 guests were moved from Neil to Havelock and 96 from Neil to Port Blair at night, sources in the A & N administration said.

Three vessels - MV North Passage, MV Rani Laxmi and MV Rani Changa - reached Neil on Sunday to shift the tourists to Port Blair, they said.

While MV North Passage has already left Neil island with 150 people on board and MV Rani Laxmi with 125 passengers, MV Rani Changa will depart shortly with 125 more tourists.

Similarly, MV Bambooka with 150 passengers left for Port Blair from Havelock island at 6.30 am.

Both Havelock and Neil islands, with their white sand beaches, rain-fed forests and coral reefs, are popular tourist destinations.

Radhanagar Beach on the western coast of Havelock was named the "Best Beach in Asia" by the Time magazine in 2004.