On the night of February 19, a gaggle of scholars from numerous faculties in Visakhapatnam stood on the steps of the Seaside View Vacation House resort on R Okay Seaside Street, watching sailors from a number of international locations march previous.
Amongst them had been sailors from Iran, who had been in India for the Worldwide Fleet Overview (IFR) and Milan 2026 naval workout routines. “The scholars had been amongst hundreds who turned as much as watch the parade. I particularly recall seeing the Iranian contingent, although there have been sailors from different international locations too. It was fairly a spectacle. They posed for selfies and took pictures of the seaside… As a hotelier, I all the time hope that whoever visits stunning Vizag returns residence safely,” mentioned Suresh Okay, the resort proprietor.
After the naval train, the Iranian warship IRIS Dena was getting back from Visakhapatnam when it was torpedoed by a United States submarine off the southern coast of Sri Lanka within the early hours of Wednesday. A lot of the crew members on board the ship are useless or lacking.
Throughout their time in India, a number of the Iranian sailors visited the Rushikonda hilltop often known as Kailasagiri, the Victory at Sea Struggle Memorial, the submarine museum, and the Sankalp Artwork Village on the outskirts of Vizag. “A lot of their time ashore was spent with naval officers,” an official mentioned.
President Droupadi Murmu had additionally visited Vizag for the train, which noticed the participation of 85 ships, together with 19 international warships. The Indian fleet included 60 ships of the Indian Navy, 4 Indian Coast Guard vessels, and one ship every from the Delivery Company of India and the Nationwide Institute of Ocean Know-how.
On February 19, as he inaugurated Train Milan in Vizag, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh referred to as on the worldwide neighborhood to successfully deal with the evolving, complicated, and interconnected challenges at sea whereas performing within the spirit of mutual respect and give-and-take, a PIB press launch learn.
The sailors had disembarked in Visakhapatnam days earlier, between February 13 and 15. The international naval officers additionally travelled to see the Taj Mahal and Bodh Gaya. “They skilled the great thing about Taj Mahal and the profound sanctity of Mahabodhi temple the place Lord Buddha attained enlightenment,” a press word from the Visakhapatnam defence institution mentioned.
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On the march previous on R Okay Seaside Street, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, S Abdul Nazeer, was the Chief Visitor. The occasion was hosted by Admiral Dinesh Okay Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Employees. A naval officer mentioned that the chief of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and Abuzar Zarri, Commanding Officer of IRIS Dena, had been additionally current.
“There have been cross-deck visits by Iranian crew to Indian warships, and Indian Navy personnel went aboard the Iranian ship. Younger officers interacted with each other,” an official mentioned. “They had been a jovial bunch. All of us loved their time right here.”
“On their final day, they went sightseeing and buying. They had been impressed with the glass skywalk at Kailasagiri,” considered one of their Navy guides recalled.
“They had been younger males of their twenties, awed by the nice and cozy welcome they acquired,” a Navy officer mentioned. “Whereas buying, they selected conventional Indian weaves for his or her households again residence.”
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A member of the A P Gramin Vikas Financial institution, which has an workplace on the Seaside Street, mentioned, “It was a lovely parade; I bear in mind seeing the Iranian sailors. The day earlier than, I watched the rehearsals. The sailors posed for selfies and interacted with locals. It’s disturbing to know that those that marched previous our seaside highway simply days in the past met this destiny.”
In a put up on X, Iran’s F oreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi mentioned the IRIS Dena was “a visitor of India’s Navy”. “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a visitor of India’s Navy carrying nearly 130 sailors, was struck in worldwide waters with out warning. Mark my phrases: The U.S. will come to bitterly remorse precedent it has set,” he wrote.
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