The Coast Guard on Friday saved six fishermen from drowning off the Daman coast. The survivors include four adults and two minors, all are safe and healthy. An official statement said the operation began at midnight on Thursday night and ended on Friday morning. The CG air station at Daman received an alert about a sinking fishing boat.
“A Coast Guard Dornier was pressed into service and the aircraft arrived over the reported position by the break of dawn. However, since the sea was rough due to the pre-monsoon conditions, it became a Herculean task to spot a small fishing boat in rough sea and hazy conditions. The task was further complicated by the fact that this boat, fishing very close to the coast did not have any distress reporting equipment.”
The boat had nearly sunk with only a few planks visible. The fishermen were holding on to a rope of the boat.
“A life raft was dropped close to the survivors to remain afloat till they could be picked up by a surface vessel.”
An ONGC offshore vessel Mahananda was pressed into service and was guided by the aircraft towards the fishermen. By the time the vessel could locate them, the boat was fully drowned leaving its six riders at the mercy of the raft. Due to poor visibility, the vessel spotted them after two hours and brought them to safety, the statement said.
