State Coast Guard personnel save six crew from mid-sea

Bengaluru: Coast Guard Doriner 773 whilst on routine MR sortie picked up a distress call at 1135 hours on Saturday from Marine Shipping Vessel (MSV) Safina – AL-Mirzan. Immediately, CG Dornier after through search in the area for almost 30 minutes, sighted the debris and 6 personnel floating in water in mid-sea. The CG Dornier after assessing the sea conditions dropped the life raft from mid-air which could be a saviour to rescue the precious lives of ill-fated crew who were floating in mid sea facing the challenges sea state of 2 with wind speed touching 20 knots and current at 1.5 knots.

Coast Guard Karnataka in a swift action based on inputs received from CG Dornier in area patrol about distress call received from MSV Safina – AL-Mirzan sailed C- 448 for search and rescue mission.

C 448 swung into action and reached the site in less than an hour and rescued six crew of the ill-fated dhow whose engine room was flooded about 40 nautical miles southeast of Mangalore. The ill-fated vessel sailed from Old Mangalore Port on Friday at 1430 hr carrying 120 tonnes of spices/food grains/vegetables/sand and granite.

The initial assessment by the rescue team revealed seepage of sea water into the boat's engine room had caused the dhow to be sunk in position 30 Nm West of Kasaragod. All the six crew (5 from Gujarat and one from Mangalore) were being brought to New Mangalore in good health.