Five fishermen who were precariously floating in the high seas after their boat sank about 35 km north west of Azhikkal port in north Kerala were rescued by Indian Navy’s offshore patrol vessel INS Sharda on Monday morning.
Their fishing vessel Omkaram sank at 6.30 a.m. after water reportedly entered the vessel, causing flooding.
An alert lookout sighted a movement in the water, which turned out to be the five fishermen. The naval ship that was on patrol duty acted with alacrity and immediately altered course towards the survivors. It then lowered its lifeboats, rescued the fishermen and brought them all on board within 10 minutes of the initial sighting at 9.30 am.
Two of the fishermen had sustained minor injuries and were administered first aid by INS Sharda’s medical team. The ship then headed for Kochi to disembark the survivors. The survivors were provided food, water and fresh clothing by the ship’s crew. The rescued fishermen said they had set off from Cheruvathur in Kasaragod at 4 a.m. on the day. After their boat sank, the fishermen remained afloat without any life-saving devices till they were spotted at 9.30 a.m. and rescued.
They were out of mobile range and were unable to swim or to seek help from other boats.
They said they had removed their clothes to wave at the ship and had almost lost hope of being rescued. All the survivors — boat owner Manoharan, 56, Vasav, 57, Chandran, 60, Suresh, 42, and Surendran, 49, belong to Kanjanghad in Kasaragod.
INS Sharda
INS Sharda is in its 26th year of commission.
The ship is deployed for coastal surveillance and patrolling off Kerala and Lakshadweep islands and has also undertaken regular anti-piracy deployments in the Gulf of Aden.
It was involved in the rescue of 21 fishermen during Cyclone Ockhi and was also used for distribution of relief material during Op Madad, which was launched by the Southern Naval Command during the August 2018 deluge that hit Kerala. At present, the ship is commanded by Commander R. Anoop.