INS Delhi leaves Colombo after two-day visit

A clean-up drive at Crow Island beach was jointly undertaken by the visiting ship's crew and personnel from SLN.

New Delhi:  Indian Navy’s guided missile destroyer INS Delhi departed Colombo on Sunday after a two-day visit, the Defence Ministry said.

The ministry said that during the ship’s stay in harbour, several interactions, including cross training of personnel in various topics of mutual interest, were held between the ship’s crew and personnel from the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN).

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A clean-up drive at Crow Island beach was jointly undertaken by the visiting ship’s crew and personnel from SLN. The ship also conducted an familiarisation tour onboard for over 200 NCC cadets and 500 other local visitors, a Defence Ministry official added. The commanding officer of INS Delhi interacted with SLN’s Western Naval Area Commander (COMWEST) Rear Admiral Suresh De Silva, and paid homage at the IPKF memorial by laying a wreath in honour of the Indian soldiers who laid their lives in Sri Lanka during IPKF operations from 1987-91.

As part of India’s Aarogya Maitri initiative to provide essential medical supplies to friendly countries, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay presented state-of-the-art Arogya Maitri Cube to Sri Lanka Parliament Speaker during a reception hosted onboard INS Delhi.

These medical cubes have been indigenously developed under the Project BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri), the official added.

Besides the Speaker, the reception was attended by several senior government officials including the Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister, the Attorney General, Secretary of Defence and all three service chiefs. The visit concluded with a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) at sea off Colombo between INS Delhi and SLN ship Vijayabahu, the official added.