Goodwill & Humanitarian

The situation in Libya is unstable in the wake of mass protests against the military regime and reports have indicated that many parts of Libya are in the hands of the protestors and military force is being used to quell dissidence. There are approximately 8000 Indian citizens in Libya who may need to be evacuated and the Indian Navy has been tasked with the evacuation of Indian Citizens from Libya.

The Navy has responded by deploying INS Jalashwa, an amphibious platform capable of evacuation and other humanitarian missions along with INS Mysore a destroyer. IN Ships Mysore and Jalashwa departed Mumbai with Aditya in company on 26 Feb 11 for evacuation of Indian nationals from Libya. On topping up from Aditya on 05/06 Mar 11, the ships crossed the Suez Canal on 07 Mar 11 and arrived off Tripoli on 10 Mar 11. INS Jalashwa entered Tripoli harbour and embarked 150 personnel stranded at Tripoli. INS Mysore remained on patrol outside harbour. Both ships entered Valetta Harbour (Malta) on 11 Mar 11 and the evacuees were disembarked ashore for onward return to India. The ships returned to India on 28 Mar 11.

It may be recalled that in Jul 2006, the Indian Navy had evacuated over 2500 Indians, PIOs and foreign nationals from Lebanon following the war between Israel and the Hezbollah. The Indian Navy is now better equipped for evacuation missions of this kind consequent to the induction of INS Jalashwa; an extremely flexible amphibious platform which can be deployed for humanitarian missions as well.