A fleet of seven ships and six helicopters evacuated most of the 1,400 tourists stranded on two islands of the Andamans due to cyclonic weather since Monday, officials said on Friday.
As the weather cleared in the morning, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and Union Territory administration started a joint evacuation drive and brought back most of the stranded tourists to Port Blair from Havelock and Neil islands.
Located about 40 km from Port Blair, Havelock and Neil are the most popular tourist attractions in the Andamans where tourists were stranded since Monday due to torrential rains, choppy seas and heavy winds as neither aircraft nor ships could operate.
The cyclonic storm 'Vardah', which was lying 250 km west-northwest of Port Blair, is very likely to intensify into a severe cyclone later in the night, according to the MeT department.
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
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