Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar offering all necessary support from the state for the Indians stranded at the Colombo airport due to Cyclone Ditwah.

Vijayan, in his letter on Saturday, said the cyclone has caused severe disruptions at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo, stranding nearly 300 Indian passengers, many of whom are from Kerala.

He said the Indian passengers have been stuck there for the last three days without adequate food, water and basic facilities.

The chief minister said many of the passengers were using Colombo as a pit stop for return journeys to home or going abroad and are in crisis at present.

"We are deeply concerned about the condition of the people who are stranded. The Government of Kerala stands ready to provide all necessary support and awaits your kind urgent response and action," Vijayan said in the letter to Jaishankar.

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Bengaluru (PTI): The South Western Railway on Saturday announced a series of special trains, in coordination with Central, South Eastern and Southern Railways, to clear stranded passengers following large-scale IndiGo flight cancellations across the country.

The special services will operate between December 6 and 10 on high-demand routes, including Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Pune, Yesvantpur–Hazrat Nizamuddin, Shalimar–Yelahanka and Ernakulam–Yelahanka, officials said.

According to an official statement, SWR will run Train No. 06255/06256 between Chennai Egmore and KSR Bengaluru, 06257/06258 between Bengaluru and MGR Chennai Central, 06259/06260 between Yesvantpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin, and 06263/06264 between Bengaluru and Pune.

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Central Railway will operate Train No. 01413/01414 between Pune and Bengaluru, while South Eastern Railway will run Train No. 08073/08074 between Shalimar and Yelahanka. Southern Railway will operate Train No. 06147/06148 between Ernakulam and Yelahanka, the statement said.

Railways has advised passengers to check updated timings on its official channels and arrive early at stations.

For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have been significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggage has been misplaced.