Had last meal three days ago: Survivors on board tug ‘Coromandel Supporter IX’

“We had our last meal on May 15. After that we could not eat anything. We had little water and food on board,” said survivors on board the tug ‘Coromandel Supporter IX’ that found itself facing Cyclone Tauktae's assault, during their interaction with Deputy Commissioner Dr Rajendra K V.

The DC was enquiring about their well-being when five survivors reached New Mangalore Port on the Indian Coast Guard ship Varaha. “Thank you, sir...” they said haltingly with folded hands while welcoming Revenue Minister Ashoka, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, District In-Charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary and others on board the Coast Guard ship.

Velu, a representative of the tug, became emotional after all the nine crew members were rescued. He said, “My boys are safe.” He thanked the government and all stakeholders, who had worked round-the-clock to rescue the men on the vessel.

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“The crew members hung on to hope while bearing the cyclonic storm for two days in mid-sea,” Velu informed.

“We are like a family irrespective of which state we hail from. By God’s grace all have been saved,” he added.

When MP Nalin Kumar Kateel interacted with one of the survivors at the hospital, the survivor told the MP that he hailed from West Bengal and was airlifted by a chopper. “The remaining five men were rescued by the Coast Gaurd,” he added.

All nine crew test negative for Covid 19

Shantanu Kumar (23) from West Bengal, Rahul Ahmad (26) from Uttar Pradesh, Deepak Dinesh (22) from Tamil Nadu, Prashanth Subramaniam (29) from Tamil Nadu, Rued Ahmad (26) from Uttar Pradesh, Moyjuddin Molla (40) from West Bengal, Gaurav Kumar (27) from Bihar, Tushar Vishwas (29) from West Bengal and Laxmi Narayan (24) from Bihar all tested negative for Covid 19.

"The men will be subjected to RT-PCR tests," sources in NMPT hospital told DH.