Coast Guard rescues fishing boat that was drifting in deep sea after engine breakdown
Mangaluru: The Indian Coast Guard ship Savitribai Phule on Tuesday rescued fishing boat Christo Rei that had reported distress while in the deep sea after sailing out of Panaji on November 29.
Christo Rei was located about 20 nautical miles away from Karwar by the ICG ship, whose personnel arranged Sea Horse, another fishing boat, to tow the former to Karwar port early on Tuesday, said a release from ICG District Headquarters, Karnataka, in Mangaluru.
The Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre (MRSC), Goa, provided information about the breakdown of IFB Christo Rei off Belekeri on December 4. The boat had encountered a breakdown of the gearbox and began drifting.
Though the ICG Mangaluru attempted to contact the boat Tandel through VHF and mobile network, the communication could not be established.
Savitribai Phule was immediately tasked with locating the boat which proceeded with the best speed to the datum to locate the boat while establishing contact with other fishing boats in the vicinity.
ICG Mangaluru and its Karwar station gathered information from local fishing associations, reviewed the search, post-factoring the drift patterns, and finally located Christo Rei at 12:10 a.m. on Tuesday.
ICG negotiated with the owner of the fishing boat Sea Horse to tow the boat in distress to Karwar and the operation commenced at 1:40 p.m. Both reached Karwar port late in the evening.