Indian Navy despatches INS Gharial to join relief operations in Cyclone Mora-hit Bangladesh

File photo of INS Gharial

The Indian Navy on Wednesday despatched another ship, INS Gharial, to join the relief operations at Chittagong, hours after the INS Sumitra rescued 33 people, affected by Cyclone Mora, from the Bay of Bengal about 160 kms from Chittagong, Bangladesh. Cyclone Mora has wrecked havoc killing at least nine people and leaving over 50,000 families homeless in Bangladesh.

The Eastern Naval Command (ENC) sailed out INS Gharial on Wednesday afternoon with HADR (Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief) stores that include food, clothing, medicines and water. The ship is expected to reach on Friday. The ship has embarked medical and diving teams along with additional rubberised boats and diving equipment.

The ENC has been deploying P-81 aircrafts as part of its rescue operation in Bangladesh. The cyclone has affected over a quarter million people in the country, the disaster management ministry said. As many as 286,000 people in 16 coastal districts were affected by the storm, Bangladesh Additional Secretary Golam Mostafa was quoted as saying by bdnews24. Around 54,500 families have lost properties in the storm as nearly 60,000 houses have been damaged along with 1,592 acres of farmlands, he said.

with PTI inputs