Cyclone Fani: Indian Coast Guard ship Shaunak heads to Odisha coast for relief, rescue operations

An Indian Coast Guard ship Shaunak on Friday headed to the Odisha coast to undertake relief and rescue operations across the state hit by Cyclone Fani. The Indian Coast Guard tweeted a video of the ship proceeding to carry out the operations with relief material onboard. 

#SevereCyclonicStorm #Fani and consequent #VeryRoughSea do not deter #CoastGuard ship while she proceeds to undertake #HADR. @IndiaCoastGuard Ship with relief material onboard off #Odisha coast heading 4 humanitarian mission @DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD @PIB_India @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/xZF8hcgkau

— Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) May 3, 2019

A video tweeted by news agency ANI also shows the Indian Coast Guard loading relief material on a chopper to distribute to the people affected due to Cyclone Fani, which made landfall on Friday.

#WATCH Odisha: Indian Coast Guard loading relief material on a chopper; relief material to be distributed to people affected due to #CycloneFani. pic.twitter.com/cN7p17zIVE — ANI (@ANI) May 3, 2019

The Indian Navy has deployed three naval ships so that it can launch rescue operation. "Indian naval ships Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt with relief material and medical teams have been deployed so that they can commence rescue operation as soon as the cyclone crosses the coast," Navy spokesperson Capt DK Sharma told PTI on Thursday.

"Helicopters are also kept standby for joining in rescue operation and for air dropping of relief material when required," Capt Sharma added.

Cyclone Fani is being seen as the most severe cyclonic storm over the east coast in nearly two decades. 

Odisha has been put on high alert after Cyclone Fani entered the state near Puri on Friday morning. Apart from Odisha coast, Fani is expected to affect West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. 

In view of cyclone Fani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday. 

"I took the latest update from officers. I held a review meeting yesterday. More than Rs 1,000 crore was released to concerned governments in advance. NDRF, Indian Coast Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force are working with the administration. I assure the affected people that nation and centre are with them," he said.

(With agencies inputs)