India on the frontline: A first responder in Indian Ocean

New Delhi, Dec 01: Amid unprecedented flooding, landslides, and displacement in devastated Sri Lanka, where an emergency was declared, and connectivity was failing, India did not wait to be asked. By Thursday morning, barely hours after the distress calls began, two nearby Indian warships were already at Colombo harbour.

Air Force helicopters were in the skies over the Kotmale region, rescuing stranded residents, tourists, and injured infants. C-130J aircraft carrying life-saving supplies touched down in Colombo. Within hours, Operation Sagar Bandhu, literally, “friends of the ocean” had become the largest regional humanitarian deployment India has undertaken this year. In a region increasingly stressed by climate disasters, India has not only positioned itself as a reliable neighbour, it has acted, with speed and confidence, swift action and no delays as the Indian Ocean’s first responder.

The Prime Minister, who first announced the mission, set a clear tone of solidarity: “In solidarity with our closest maritime neighbour, India has urgently dispatched relief materials and vital HADR support under Operation Sagar Bandhu. We stand ready to provide more aid and assistance as the situation evolves.” His message reinforced India’s neighbourhood doctrine: “Guided by our Neighbourhood First policy and Vision MAHASAGAR, India continues to stand firmly with Sri Lanka in its hour of need.”

External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, closely monitoring developments, coordinated and confirmed the launch of the relief mission: “Operation Sagar Bandhu commences. INS Vikrant and INS Udaygiri hand over relief material at Colombo. Further steps are underway,” he posted on X.

Around 27 tons of disaster material including essential items, medicines, reached the country and the Indian High Commission in Colombo went massively into action, posting not only messages on its webpage and informing media and other communication channels asking people to contact them for support and reaching them where needed.

As the support continues over weekend, soon after, another message on Monday arrived: “Another @IAF_MCC C130J carrying approx 10 tons of disaster response supplies, BHISHM Cubes and a medical team for on-site training & support has landed in Colombo,” showcasing that India continues to operate in support.

It was the Indian Air Force that undertook some of the most critical missions of the past week. In coordination with Sri Lankan authorities, helicopters conducted “hybrid rescue” operations in the landslide-affected Kotmale valley, an area entirely cut off by road. The IAF later issued a detailed statement:

“Across the day’s missions, IAF helicopters evacuated a total of 45 stranded passengers, including 6 critical casualties and 4 infants, and brought them safely to Colombo. These included 12 Indian nationals and over 30 foreign nationals from countries such as Germany, South Africa, Slovenia, the UK, Poland, Belarus, Iran, Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, along with Sri Lankan citizens.

The scale and speed of these missions underline India’s steadfast commitment to assisting Sri Lanka in its hour of need with swift, coordinated and compassionate HADR support under challenging conditions.”

A Garud commando was lowered into a restricted terrain to guide stranded travellers across a cross-country route to a makeshift helipad. From there, 24 persons, Indians, Sri Lankans and Europeans, were airlifted to safety. “Critical casualties” were immediately flown to Colombo for emergency treatment. In parallel, 57 Sri Lankan Army personnel were airlifted to reinforce ground rescue teams, underlining the mission’s dual focus: evacuation and strengthening local operations.

INS Vikrant, India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier, and INS Udaygiri, a state-of-the-art frigate, were originally en route to Sri Lanka to participate in the International Fleet Review (IFR) 2025, marking the Sri Lankan Navy’s 75th anniversary. That plan dramatically changed. As the crisis deepened, both ships switched to humanitarian mode, offloading medical stores, food, water units and modular field shelters.

The participation of Vikrant, a symbol of India’s naval strength, sent a clear signal: India’s rising maritime capabilities are not just for deterrence, they are for disaster response, for partnership, and for regional security during fragile moments.

By 1st December, the Indian High Commission in Colombo confirmed a major development: India had safely evacuated nearly 750 stranded Indian nationals from Sri Lanka, many stranded at Colombo airport after flights were cancelled. More evacuations continue through Indian Air Force flights and commercial airlines, with the IL-76 and C-130 aircraft taking both evacuees and relief supplies on their return journeys. Earlier, 400 Indian migrant workers were evacuated directly from Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), a move that Colombo officials said helped ease airport congestion and restore order.

Sri Lanka is facing one of its biggest disasters in recent memory. The Disaster Management Centre reports: 334 confirmed deaths, 370 missing, Over 1.1 million people affected with floods across 309,607 families. Food and agriculture have been devastated. As reported by leading Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror, 510,000 hectares of paddy fields have been washed away. The Foreign Ministry has requested Rs. 31 billion for agricultural and infrastructure recovery, seeking nearly 112,000 metric tons of fertiliser from international donors.

Worst-hit districts include: Kandy, Badulla, Matale and Nuwara Eliya, with ongoing risk of post-rainfall landslides, contaminated water sources, electrified floodwater and dangerous wildlife intrusion into homes. Even when the rain slows, danger rises silently, landslides strike after water recedes, and submerged roads collapse without warning.

India’s emerging role in the Indian Ocean

The crisis in Sri Lanka is more than a humanitarian challenge. It is a test of regional response systems. For India, it is also a demonstration of preparedness. In recent years, New Delhi has positioned itself as the “net security provider” in the Indian Ocean, assisting the Maldives, Mozambique, Madagascar, Nepal and Myanmar in past disasters. Operation Sagar Bandhu continues a trend shaped by HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) doctrine, one that aligns India’s foreign policy with maritime responsibility.

With the Indian Ocean becoming increasingly militarised and climate shocks growing in frequency, India’s capability to respond rapidly is becoming a strategic asset. What was once dubbed “disaster diplomacy” has evolved into a regional expectation. As early as 2021, New Delhi had declared that it would be the first responder to crises among its closest neighbours, a promise now being reinforced with every helicopter evacuation and ship-to-shore relief landing.

Messages of appreciation have already begun to circulate from European diplomatic circles and partner nations whose tourists were among those rescued. US and EU officials, according to diplomatic sources, consider India’s effort “timely, organised and visible”.

While formal statements are yet to be issued, the humanitarian coordination has not gone unnoticed. This is diplomacy on the ground, not through communiqués, not at summits, but through boots, helicopters and medical teams.

A Model for the future?

India, officials say, is prepared to scale up the mission depending on weather developments. More medical teams and rapid engineering units may be deployed. For Sri Lanka, the challenge ahead is enormous, resettlement, water safety, structural inspections and recovery of destroyed farmland will take months. But across South Asia, a point has been quietly established: India does not wait during crisis. India arrives.

As Prime Minister Modi wrote in his message to the people of Sri Lanka: “India continues to stand firmly with Sri Lanka in its hour of need.” In that line lies more than sympathy. It carries confidence, strategy, and increasingly expectation from the neighbourhood that when disaster strikes, the first sound they will hear… might just be Indian rotor blades in the sky.