Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Coast Guard rescues eight fishermen

— Photo: V. Ganesan

MISSION COMPLETE: Captain K.P.S. Raghuvanshi of Indian Coast Guard Ship Sagar with rescued fishermen at the Chennai harbour on Thursday.

CHENNAI: In two separate operations, the Coast Guard rescued eight fishermen who were stranded at sea.

Four fishermen, who were stranded 5.5 nautical miles off the Pulicat light on Wednesday night, were rescued by a Coast Guard vessel, ICGS Sagar.

The Coast Guard identified the fishermen as P. Vedagiri (48), M. Vadivel (45) and M. Ramesh (27) of Nagapattinam and T. Elumalai (30) of Tiruvottiyur in Chennai.

An official release said the vessel left the Chennai harbour around 5.15 p.m. on Wednesday to rescue the fishing boat, ‘Andavar Thunai.’

The vessel proceeded at the maximum speed and reached the boat around 8.15 p.m. By the time the vessel reached the boat, the weather had deteriorated further, with waves rising up to four-five metres and winds gusting up to 65 knots.

The vessel experienced heavy rolling of 35 degree, as water splashed all over the weather deck.

Even before the vessel could reach the boat, two fishermen without life jacket were swept away by the waves.

Officials of the Fisheries Department traced the bodies at Kattupalli.

The Coast Guard appealed to the Fisheries Department to sensitise the fishermen to the need for having life jacket on the boats and urge them not to venture into the sea when the weather was inclement, the release added.

The Coast Guard also rescued four fishermen of Rameswaram, who had been missing since Monday, from an island of the Gulf of Mannar.

The search was launched based on inputs from Collector R. Kirlosh Kumar and some local fishermen. A hovercraft and an interceptor craft were pressed into service, and they located the stranded fishermen, along with a boat, after a search of more than five hours.

A Coast Guard official said they were located six miles south off the Muyal island. They were found in a very critical condition without food and water for the past four days.

All of them were brought to Mandapam, where they were given food and water.

S. Chandran, one of the rescued fishermen, said their boat developed a snag on Monday when they were fishing in the sea off Dhanushkodi.

It drifted away to Adam’s Bridge and from there to the south sea (the Gulf of Mannar) owing to the high waves caused by the cyclonic conditions.

“It was a rebirth for us. We thought the rough weather would topple the boat. By God’s grace, somehow we managed to keep our boat afloat against all odds. We sought the help of a country boat fisherman to inform our whereabouts to the authorities,” he said.

They were handed over to S. Panneerselvam, Assistant Director, Fisheries, Rameswaram.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu