Tamil Nadu: Fishing boat feared sunk for 4 days located by Indian Coast Guard, 11 crew safe

Chennai: After a four-day search and rescue operation involving the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Navy belongings, fishing boat Mercedes has been located and is ready to return to its house port by May 3.

The boat had set sail on April 6 and was discovered round 370 kms from Lakshadweep. The vessel with 11-crew members had set sail from Thengapattnam harbour in  Kanyakumari, was on a 30-day voyage in the direction of Kerala, when it was feared sunk round 597 nautical miles from Goa. 

Tamil Nadu fisheries authorities had alerted the Indian Coast Guard on April 24 about particles noticed by different fishing boats, elevating suspicion of ‘Mercedes’ having sunk. Following this, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center (MRCC) of Indian Coast Guard, Mumbai activated International Safety Net to alert service provider vessels transiting the area to lookout for the stated boat. 

Simultaneously, ICGS Samudra Prahari was diverted for search, MRCC, Mumbai coordinated with service provider vessel Maersk Horsburgh to hitch the search operation together with fishing boats working within the space. As the reported place was in Pakistan’s Search and Rescue Region, MRCC Karachi was additionally requested for help. 

Considering the space from mainland, Indian Navy carried out Long Range Maritime Patrol plane. It was additionally learnt that the fishing boat was not carrying Automatic identification System (which transmits a vessel’s location) or another transponder which may have assisted in early finding. 

After 4 days of steady search, amidst challenges posed by distance from mainland and climate, the lacking boat was located round 200 miles (round 370 kms) from Lakshadweep Islands. An ICG Dornier Aircraft located and corroborated the presence of the boat on Wednesday and MRCC Mumbai established contact through a satellite tv for pc cellphone that the vessel was carrying. 

In the interim, info was additionally acquired from Tamil Nadu fisheries authorities, on the crew of fishing vessel Mercedes having referred to as up house through satellite tv for pc cellphone to point their safe situation. AN ICG ship deployed close to Lakshadweep was diverted to render medical and logistical help to the crew and the fishing boat. The ICG ship is escorting the vessel and is predicted to return to its house port by May 3, Monday.