RAMANATHAPURAM
Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel rescued five fishermen who were in distress while fishing on the high seas on Monday night after their mechanised fishing boat was flooded with seawater.
Officials said the fishermen, who had set out for fishing on Monday morning, were fishing about 20 nautical miles off Mandapam, when a portion of the boat’s wooden plank broke, allowing seawater to enter the boat.
Using a very high frequency (VHF) set, the fishermen pressed the distress button. On being alerted, the ICG personnel from Karaikal, who were patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) on board ICG Ship Ameya, rushed to the spot and rescued the fishermen, the officials said.
The coast guard personnel reached the spot within 15 to 20 minutes and rescued the fishermen, who were about to jump into the sea after the boat was flooded, they said.
After shifting four fishermen to a fishing vessel, which was in the vicinity, the ICG personnel took one fisherman in their ship as the sea was very rough and he could not be shifted to the fishing vessel, the officials said.
After rescuing all the five fishermen, the ICG personnel tried to tow the boat but it was fully flooded by the time and sank. The rescued fishermen were brought to the shore on Tuesday morning, they said.
The fishermen thanked the ICG personnel for the timely assistance. They had marked the location where the boat sunk and would try to salvage it later, they said.
