KOCHI: Indian Naval Ship Sharda based here rescued five fishermen who were floating in the sea after their fishing vessel, FV Omkaram, sank some 35 km north-west of Azhikal port on Monday. The incident occurred around 9.30 a.m. when the ship was on patrol in the area.
All the survivors, Manoharan, 56, owner of the boat, Vasav, 57, Chandran, 60, Suresh, 42, and Surendran, 49, belong to Kanjanghad, Kasargod. Efforts were on to inform their relatives as well as Trikkaripur local coastal police station, the Navy said.
"An alert lookout sighted a movement in the water, which turned out to be the five floating fishermen. The ship acted with alacrity and immediately altered course towards the survivors. It lowered its life boats and rescued and brought on board all the fishermen within ten minutes of the initial sighting," a senior officer with the Navy said.
Two of the fishermen had sustained minor injuries and were administered first aid by the ship's medical team. The ship headed for Kochi to disembark the survivors.
The rescued fishermen indicated that they had set off from Cheruvathur in Kasargod at 4 a.m. on Monday. As per their statements, water started entering the 13-feet boat, which they were unable to control, and the heavy flooding caused the boat to sink. The fishermen had to remain afloat without any life-saving devices from 6.30 a.m. till the time they were rescued.
They were out of mobile range and unable to swim or seek help from other boats. They said that they had removed their clothes to wave at the ship and had almost lost hope of being rescued.
INS Sharda, commanded by Commander R. Anoop, is the offshore patrol vessel which has undertaken regular anti-piracy deployments in the Gulf of Aden, and was also involved in the rescue of 21 fishermen during cyclone Ockhi.
