Commander Abhilash Tomy brought safely to Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: Commander Abhilash Tomy, who was under medical observation at Ile Amsterdam, was brought to Visakhapatnam safely onboard INS Satpura on Saturday.  

Chief of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) Vice Admiral Karambir Singh interacted with Tomy and inquired about his health condition and the rescue operation. 

Commander Tomy was shifted to INHS Kalyani, the naval hospital of ENC, for observation and medical assistance. 

The Commander-in-Chief also interacted with Captain Alok Ananda, the Commanding Officer of INS Satpura, who lost his father while the ship was on operational deployment and diverted for the search and rescue operation.

Tomy was participating in the Golden Globe Race 2018 (GGR) representing India in the historic around the world race without modern navigational aids.  

On September 21, his sailing vessel ‘Thuriya’ was broken when the boat was caught in a violent storm in the South Indian Ocean, 1,900 nautical miles West of Perth, Australia.  Abhilash Tomy suffered a severe back injury and dropped out of the race.

The Australian Rescue Coordination Centre at Canberra coordinated the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy.  

Indian Navy launched ‘Operation Raksham’ to rescue the injured officer by immediately deploying the long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft P8I in the area staging through Mauritius for providing close support and monitoring the rescue operations and diverted IN Ships Satpura and Jyoti to undertake search and rescue operations.  

On September 24, French Fishing Vessel (FV) Osiris reached in vicinity of ‘Thuriya’ and carried out a successful rescue operation and later shifted Tomy to Ile Amsterdam for shelter.

INS Satpura after fuelling from INS Jyoti arrived off the Ile Amsterdam and safely evacuated Tomy using the ship’s helicopter on September 28.