Coast Guard rescues 16 fishermen off Thane

The Indian Coast Guard on Thursday rescued 16 fishermen off the coast of Thane district.

The Thane-registered fishing boat named Dev Sandesh with 16 fishermen onboard was reported to be in distress about 70 km west of Arnala coast, Thane.

The boat was caught up in rough to very rough sea conditions and very high speed winds prevailing at sea.

The distress message of the stranded and distressed fishing boat was relayed to Coast Guard Mumbai Maritime Search & Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) by Yellow Gate Police Station on the evening of 04th August.

The MRCC (Maritime Rescue coordination Centre) Mumbai swung into action and after ascertaining the exact location of the distressed fishing boat at sea, activated the International Safety Net and continuously relayed the message on broadcast for all the ships in area specially the transiting ships to render assistance to the boat in distress.

In the meantime MRCC successfully identified an offshore supply vessel Greatship Asmi in vicinity of the distressed fishing boat while tracking the traffic at sea and diverted her for rescue operation.

The distressed boat was taking water onboard due to flooding owing to long swell and rough weather.

Since the situation at sea was worsening due to prevailing rough weather condition and high speed winds, while OSV Greatship Asmi was directed to keep a strict vigil, Coast Guard coordinated with another offshore support vessel Colonel SP Wahi in the vicinity and directed her to pick up all the distressed fishermen from the stranded fishing boat and resuce them safely onboard the ship.

After six hours of continuous effort facing the rough sea the 16 crew were rescued and taken onboard.

All the rescued fishermen are safe and will arrive in Mumbai.