Date:13/08/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/08/13/stories/2003081309221200.htm

National

Coast Guard helps rescue Chinese crew

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Aug. 12. The Coast Guard has coordinated a mid-sea rescue exercise in which the entire 28-member Chinese crew of a sinking merchant vessel was saved. The Coast Guard's Port Blair rescue coordination centre got into the act on receiving a distress message from a vessel on Monday afternoon. It launched a Dornier aircraft to pinpoint the vessel's location and identified two merchant ships in the vicinity to help the Chinese ship that was experiencing heavy flooding.

Helped by real-time information provided by the Dornier, the rescue centre remained in touch with the merchant ships and directed them towards the sinking vessel. Unable to control the flooding, the crew abandoned the ship and took to life rafts and dinghies.

According to a Coast Guard spokesman, the rescue centre personnel kept on guiding the two merchant vessels towards the survivors and finally all of them were lifted on to the ship.