Officials said that the rescued fishermen who are being brought to the port by an ICG ship have been attended to by a medical team are out of any danger to life and they will reach Haldia port in West Bengal by 11 am on Saturday.
Six fishermen stranded mid-sea in Bay of Bengal for more than 15 days had a miraculous escape on Friday after being spotted by the maritime surveillance aircraft Dornier belonging to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) during its routine sortie.
Officials said that the rescued fishermen who are being brought to the port by an ICG ship have been attended to by a medical team are out of any danger to life and they will reach Haldia port in West Bengal by 11 am on Saturday.
"The fishing boat, identified as KR-MFV-1641 belonging to Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh had set on sail on June 15 and were due to return on June 18. However, the boat was adrift without propulsion and power supply because of engine failure. A Dornier aircraft on a sortie from Bhubaneshwar in Ordisha, spotted the boat 145 nautical miles off Haldia on Thursday morning following which one of our patrolling ship 'Rajkiran' was diverted to the area. It reached fishermen around 8 AM on Friday and rescued them," ICG Chief Staff Officer (operations) (North East), DIG SS Dashila who was overseeing the rescue efforts told dna over the phone from Kolkata.
Dashila said that that the fishing boat was marooned as a result of a cyclone in Bay of Bengal. "Even on Friday morning, towing the boat was not feasible because of rough sea. So, we brought the six fishermen on board our ship," he said.
It is not clear how the stranded fishermen survived adrift mid sea in rough waters, an another coast guard official, directly involved in the rescue, told dna on condition of anonymity that "luckily they were carrying considerable amount of food supplies".
"The fishermen we have rescued are seasoned sailors and often get stranded. However, 15 days is still a long time to survive in mid sea on a small fishing boat," he said.
On June 22, Coast Guard had rescued another six fishermen stranded at sea near Odisha's Puri district.
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