Coast Guard rescues six crew members of dhow from mid-sea

Six crew members of a dhow that sank in mid-sea about 30 nautical miles off Kasaragod in Kerala have been rescued by the Coast Guard. the dhow 'MSV Safina-Al-Mirzal', used as a sailing vessel, had set sail from Old Mangalore Port on March 19 with 120 tonnes of spices, food grains, vegetables, sand and granite, a Coast Guard release here said.

It said that a CG Dornier on a routine sortie picked up a distress call from the vessel at 11.35 am on Saturday, located the debris after a 30-minute search and found the crew members floating in the sea. A life raft was dropped and the crew got on board.

Acting on inputs from the aircraft, a fast interceptor boat was deployed reached the site in less than an hour and rescued all the crew members, who were later taken to Mangalore harbour.

All the crew members are in good health, the release said. Initial assessment of the rescue team revealed that seepage of seawater into the engine room led to the sinking of the dhow, it said.