In a daring midnight operation, Indian Coast Guard saved the lives of four fishermen who were struggling to stay afloat in the sea off 12 nautical miles from here after their fishing boat developed a leak and sank.
“We received an emergency alert about the stranded fishermen around 9.30 pm. Braving rough sea and darkness on New Moon day, our men ventured into sea and rescued and brought them to the shore after a three hour-long operation,” Commander N.Somasundaram, Coast Guard Station, Puducherry told The Hindu .
Dinesh Kumar of Pudupatinam near Kalpakkam and Venkatesh, Raja, Kumerasan had set out on a fishing expedition on their two-engine mechanised boat in the Monday around noon from Thengaithittu Fishing Harbour here.
Though immediately after moving out of the harbour, the boat hit a sand patch area in the shallow water, they ignored the incident and ventured into the sea.
Around 8 p.m. while they were fishing near 12 nautical miles distance from the Thengaithittu fishing harbour, they found that their boat was sinking and water gushing inside. They realised that the boat had been badly damaged when it struck the sand bar earlier.
Panic-stricken and with time running out before the boat sank into the sea, the fishermen tried to put out an SOS alert through their VHF equipment to the Coast Guard. But they were unable to do so as they were beyond reach of VHF.
However, they managed to use a mobile phone to put a call through to Coast Guard crew stationed in Thengaithittu harbour.
Within minutes, a Coast Guard rescue mission accompanied by the Marine Police was on its way.
According to Mr. Somasundaram the crew could not initially locate the fishermen as it was pitch dark.
Captain P.D.R.Balan, a veteran of rescue missions, then fired 25 rounds of signal flares into the air.
The light radiating off the flares helped them locate the fishermen fighting for their lives by holding on to the fishing nets. The boat was lost by then. The fishermen were brought to the shore at 12.20 am on Tuesday.
Bravery awards“It is unbelievable that we reached shore alive,” Dinesh Kumar, a fisherman survivor, said. “We feel as if we had a rebirth now.”
Mr. Somasundaram said that the men involved in this operation would be nominated for bravery awards.