Seven fishermen stranded at sea rescued by Coast Guard

Another seven aboard a second vessel still missing

Coast Gaurd personnel airlifting the stranded fisherman.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued seven out of 14 fishermen, who were stranded near ONCG oil rig Aban II and Sagar Vijay, off Kakinada coast when Cyclone Phethai made a landfall south of Kakinada on Monday evening.

Another seven fishermen on another boat are yet to be traced and a search operation is under way.

Distress signal

Upon receiving a distress signal, ICG Ship Samudra Paheredar was despatched from Visakhapatnam with a chopper conducting aerial sorties. Seven fishermen were spotted on a boat near Aban II, and were immediately airlifted. According to a ICG release, ships Vigraha, Shaunak and Ayush were also despatched from Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam for augmenting the rescue efforts and to provide disaster relief off A.P. coast.

Additional ships and aircraft were kept on standby to respond to any emergency. A total of 145 boats of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and 58 boats of Andhra Pradesh were sent back ashore prior to the cyclone’s onset, the release said.