Indian Navy had launched Op Samudra Setu last year to reapatriate stranded Indians.
Indian Navy has launched Operation Samudra Setu-II to augment the ongoing national mission to meet the country's oxygen requirements. Warships have been deployed to carry liquid oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment to India amid its worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
All such containers carried on aircraft around the country are empty because oxygen-filled tanks cannot be transported by air. The naval operation, thus, gains prominence along with the efforts of the Indian Railways.
Two ships, the INS Kolkata and INS Talwar, have entered the Port of Manama, Bahrain, to carry back 40 tonnes of liquid oxygen to Mumbai. The INS Jalashwa is enroute to Bangkok while the INS Airavat is on its way to Singapore on similar missions.
Last year, Indian Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu, as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, repatriating approximately 4,000 stranded and distressed Indian citizens from the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Iran.
In the second wave of the pandemic, India's health system has begun to crumble due to a shortage of resources, especially that of oxygen, due to the unprecedented influx of patients to hospitals.
The first "Oxygen Express" carrying seven tankers of the liquid medical oxygen reached Maharashtra from Visakhapatnam on April 23. The first such train reached Delhi carrying around 70 tonnes of the life-saving gas on Tuesday.
Covid has infected over 3.86 lakh more people in India yesterday in yet another worrying daily high, killed 3,498. The record number comes even as a huge international aid operation has been launched with many countries promising help.