Crippled Tamil Nadu deep sea fishing boat stranded off Kochi

MANGALURU: A deep sea fishing boat from Tamil Nadu, which was sailing from Kochi, has been stranded beyond 200 nautical miles after suffering a snag. A ham radio operator picking up their distress signal relayed it to coastal security police in Kerala who in turn conveyed it to the Coast Guard in Karnataka.

A Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard Mangaluru launched a search and found that the boat is safe as of now.

The vessel — Luminous — owned by J Cleetus of Thoothoor in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu sailed from Kochi on October 15 on a deep sea fishing expedition. The vessel with a 13-member crew, including the boat owner, suffered a technical snag in their boat engine, some 200 nautical miles off the Mangaluru coast, said John Britto, a relative of Cleetus.

After suffering the engine failure, the boat started sending distress signals through their wireless set. Rony Moorkoch, a ham radio operator from Payyanur in Kannur district of Kerala, picked up their signal.

“As per the coordinates, the boat crew has passed on that they are stranded N 13.11 degrees and E 71.18 degrees, somewhere off the Mangaluru coastline. The distance from my house is 246 nautical miles,” Rony told Express.

He said that it is a miracle that he picked up the signal from that far. “The distance should be at least 430 km on air and it is a miracle that I could pick up their distress call on Saturday afternoon. I passed on the information to the Coastal Security Police at Nileshwar and they in return communicated to it the Coast Guard, Mangaluru,” Rony said.

The climatic condition should be pristine to pick up a signal from that far and he lost them later on Saturday evening. “I could pick their call again at afternoon on Sunday,” he said.

The Coast Guard Mangaluru said a Dornier Aircraft sent to locate the fishermen spotted the vessel.

With Cyclone Gaja looming, fishermen expressed their anxiety over the crippled boat.

“Ever since the ham operator picked up their distress signal and communicated to us, we have been contacting various agencies, including the Coast Guard Rescue Centre at Mumbai. They said that they have informed the Coast Guard Mangaluru and now Kochi,” said P Justin Antony of the International Fishermen Development Trust at Thoothoor in Kanyakumari district.