Coast Guard rescues 10 TN fishermen stranded off Vizag coast for 6 days

Visakhapatnam: Ten Tamil Nadu fishermen who were stranded in the Bay of Bengal for six days after their boat broke down were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard, said an official on Thursday.

ICGS Ayush rescued them 83 miles east off the port city.

“Ten fishermen were there, and the boat belongs to Chennai. One of our ships was on coastal patrol (Ayush) and we got a distress call and we diverted our ship to the boat,” the official told PTI on the rescue operation.

The Coast Guard vessel was about 90 miles away from that stranded boat and reached it at 3:30 am on Wednesday, said the official.

The Coast Guard identified the boat as IFB Ganapathi Perumal (Manju Matha), which ventured into the sea from Kasimedu harbour in Chennai on August 24.

After locating the boat through a joint surface and air coordinated search deploying ships and aircraft, MRCC Chennai requested a proximate merchant vessel, MV Jag Radha, to monitor the boat until Ayush arrived.

The fishermen were provided medical assistance and the boat was towed to Vizag Port.

Later, the fishermen were safely handed over to the Fisheries department.