Pakistan Navy ships help Maldivan government rescue stranded tourists, locals

The Pakistan Navy (PN) contingent offered humanitarian assistance to Maldivan government which requested for evacuation assistance for stranded tourists/locals from Islands and provision of emergency drop of food supplies to the affected areas. The Pakistan Navy ships, 'Nasr', an auxiliary tanker, and 'Tariq', a Type-21 destroyer, are on operational deployment to South East Asia and Indian Ocean since early November, said an ISPR press release here on Monday.
These ships also have helicopters embarked on them. After visiting Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, ships are presently in Male (Maldives) since December 25, as continuation of Maritime Diplomacy in pursuit of foreign policy objectives.
The 8.9 Magnitude under sea quake in north Indonesia has resulted in more than 9,500 deaths in the surrounding South East Asian countries and millions got affected. Many portions of Male were also flooded, and emergency has been declared by the Maldivan government.
The Pakistan Navy, in co-ordination with Maldivan National Security Services, launched a humanitarian search and rescue operation on December 26 using ships and helicopters and also dropped emergency food supplies to the affected areas which are otherwise inaccessible.
The Pakistan Navy intends to continue the humanitarian assistance to the Maldivan authorities.
The rescue operations being conducted by the Pakistan Navy ships have been lauded by local authorities and the national media of Male.
These operations are manifestation of the vital benign roles and the capability of Pakistan Navy to perform such tasks, which also accrue diplomatic gains.