Indian Navy Rescues 800 Tourists From Andaman Islands As Storm Approaches

The Indian Navy on Wednesday deployed three ships to evacuate 800 tourists stranded at Havelock Islands of Andaman due to heavy rain.

The Indian Navy swung into action after it received a telephonic request from the civil administration of the island for immediate help.

The operation started immediately. INS Batra, INS Bangaram, INS Kumbhir and LCU 38 sailed to rescue 800 tourists stranded at Havelock Islands. The travellers were ferried to Port Blair, as reported by News18.

A Navy spokesperson said “The ships departed Port Blair from 03:15 hrs onwards and are on location. The sea state is bad with a heavy swell. They will go alongside and ferry tourists to Port Blair. Their safety is the highest consideration,” as reported by The Hindu.

A depression formed over the south-east Bay of Bengal. Indian Meteorological Department’s National Weather Forecast division has warned that the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar would be receiving rainfall in two days. They have said that there might be heavy rain for about 72 hours from Wednesday. The forecast also said that the wind speeds could reach 40-60 kmph with rough and choppy seas. Fishermen have been advised not to go out to the sea for the next week.

The depression is centred around 1310 km of south-east of Gopalpur, 1260 km south-east of Visakhapatnam and 260 km west-northwest of Car Nicobar.

The same storm is heading towards the coast of Tamil Nadu and is expected to make landfall in the coming week. The state is hoping that this will help in bridging the rainfall deficit. If the weather system strengthens, it is likely to be called ‘Vardah’ as per another report by The Hindu.

Havelock Island is the largest in the chain of islands to the east of Great Andaman. It is popular with international tourists as it is among the few islands they can visit without permits. There is a regular shuttle service from Port Blair which takes around four hours to reach Havelock.