Tuticorin: Six fishermen in distress were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard off Gulf of Mannar coast on Wednesday. The fishing boat has suffered a keel fracture while she was on a fishing expedition 48 nautical miles off the coast.
The Indian Coast Guard Ship, Vaibhav during her routine patrol received a distress call from a fishing boat around 5 am on October 7. The fishing boat with her six-member crew was in distress due to flooding of the engine room and the boat was 48 nautical miles South East of Manappad beach.
ICGS Vaibhav swung into action and managed to locate the crippled fishing boat at 10.45 am on the same day.
The initial assessment by the Coast Guard Rescue Team revealed the seepage of seawater in the boat’s engine room because of a broken keel.
The Ship’s Damage Control Team immediately operated the portable submersible pumps and commenced de-flooding. Once the water level in the boat receded, the team undertook repairs using quick-drying cement/oakum and wooden wedges to fix the keel fracture.
After the coast guard team managed to fix the flooding and upon the completion of the repair works, the fishing boat was directed to proceed to Tharuvaikulam Fishing Harbour. The fishing boat and the crew safely entered Tharuvaikulam fishing harbour at 0300 hrs on 08 Oct 20. All crew are reported to be healthy, according to Coast Guard officials.
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