The Navy and the Coast Guard together rescued 112 fishermen in distress from the rough seas off the State’s coast on Friday.
Naval sources said ALH Dhurv helicopters rescued 37 fishermen, Seaking helicopters rescued nine, INS Jamuna brought to safety five people, while the ship Jamuna saved four lives. “All were rescued from the seas between Vizhinjam and Kollam. A P8-I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft is hovering over the seas off Kollam right now looking for distressed fishermen,” said a naval spokesperson.
Earlier in the day, Vice Admiral AR Karve, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command, told the media that the Navy had dispatched some five to six ships besides the P8-I, Dornier, Seaking and ALH aircraft to rescue affected people.
“We dispatched the ships and aircraft as soon as we got the request from the civil administration,” he said in response to a question. “The sea is rough and the weather, foul. The wind conditions are strong and the swell is as high as three to four metres, so we are continuing our efforts,” he said. Naval ship INS Shardul was loaded with HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) material on Thursday night and it sailed off on Friday morning. INS Sharda, which was berthed alongside INS Tir where Vice Admiral Karve met the media, was all geared up to sail out with relief material at the time of filing this report. The Vice Admiral said naval ships were on standby off the Lakshadweep archipelago and the relief material included drinking water, water purification kits, medicine, divers and the like.
