Missing naval divers return to Sassoon Dock on Sunday

Two naval divers, who were reported as missing from Saturday evening onwards, returned to Sassoon Dock around 2 pm on Sunday. The divers — Bipin Dahal, LEMP, and Ganshyam Patidhar, MEI — were searching for two crew members of a fishing vessel that sank off the shore of Mumbai early on Saturday.

According to Navy sources, the divers went missing after being dispatched to locate the two missing crewmembers of the ship that sank. While a search for them was on, defence sources told this newspaper that the two divers were stuck at sea due to bad weather conditions. Finally, on Sunday morning, the crew aboard a vessel located them and the divers started their journey back to Mumbai.

Sources, however, said that the two crew members of the fishing vessel that sank on Saturday morning were untraceable till late on Sunday evening. A Dornier twin engine aircraft and a patrolling vessel have been deployed to conduct a search for them.

The fishing boat, named Dutta Sai, had 16 crew members on board and sank around 4 am on Saturday 30 nautical miles west of Mumbai. Following the incident, 14 crew members were rescued a few hours later thanks to the MV Dependable being nearby.

A navy official said of the rescued divers: “They have been shifted to INHS Asvini (the navy hospital), where they are under observation. They were found to be medically fit and in high spirits.”