CHENNAI: A fishing boat crew of 10 men, who were stranded in the Palk Bay after the vessel’s hull was damaged were safely rescued and the boat was towed to the shoreline, the Coast Guard said in a statement here on Saturday.
The boat that sailed from Navoor harbour in Nagapattnam, early on October 5, suffered a crack in the hull at night on the same day which led to an emergency situation onboard with uncontrolled ingress of water and failure of engine, the Coast Guard said.
As soon as information was received in the early hours of Friday from the State Fisheries Department authorities in Rameswaram, the Coast Guard station at Mandapam deployed ICGS (Indian Coast Guard Ship) C-432 on rescue mission, a defence press release said.
The distressed fishing boat with 10 crew members were located about 20nm (nautical miles) north east of Pamban in the Palk Bay and they were swiftly rescued.
The Coast Guard said it safely handed over the crew members and the boat to the Fisheries Department officials near the Pamban fishing harbour, Rameswaram.