By IANS,
New Delhi : Two Indian warships sailing to Libya to evacuate Indians stranded by the massive protests against the Muammar Gaddafi regime will reach Alexandria in neighbouring Egypt March 8, the navy chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma, said Thursday.
The troop carrier INS Jalashwa and the destroyer INS Mysore set sail for Libya Feb 26 and they will stay on station till the evacuation of all the 18,000 Indians have been evacuated. Some 7,000 Indians have already been evacuated on special Air India flights and on two chartered vessels that have brought them to Alexandria from Benghazi.
“The two warships will reach Alexandria on March 8. Once the numbers (of Indians) are mustered in Tripoli (Libya), our ships can be involved in the evacuation. Our ships will be waiting in Alexandria to take on the task,” Verma told reporters on the sidelines of a navy event here.
He said under Operation Blossom, as the naval evacuation plan is called, the two ships will assist in transferring the Indians from Libyan ports to Malta, from where they would be brought home by air.
Verma said the troop carriers are not meant for carrying passengers over long distances. Hence, the Indians evacuated from the war zone in Libya will be airlifted on Air India and private airlines.
“What has been worked out with the ministry of external affairs is that the ships are not meant to carry passengers for long distances. They are basically troop carriers. So, what we intend to do is to move passengers from Tripoli or any of the other ports or Benghazi, move them to Malta and from there it will be the aerobridge already working there. Presently, private airlines have also come in. Other aircraft are also on stand by,” he said.
Asked why the two warships were carrying marine commandos on board, the navy chief said it was now the standard operating procedure for all ships sailing to the Gulf region so that the specialist troops could be deployed if the need arises.
“As a standard routine now, when we send ships to this area, we have marine commandos on board. If there is a requirement that ever arises to protect the ships or passengers we are carrying and if that requires skills where the commandos are required, they will act,” he said.
Asked if the navy missed INS Jalashwa in a major exercise in the Arabian Sea, he said it would have been good if the troop carrier had participated in the war game, but the evacuation of Indians from Libya was a national emergency for which the ship’s services were needed more.