Karnataka: Indian Coast Guard rescues 31 fishermen stranded on a boat in Arabian Sea for 11 days

Headquarters No. 3 (Karnataka) received information on October 24 about the missing Indian Fishing Boat (IFB) Saint Anton-I from Goa. Upon receiving the information, the ICG launched a search and rescue (SAR) operation.

Bengaluru: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has rescued 31 fishermen stranded on a boat in the Arabian Sea. They had been stranded on a boat for 11 days. Due to a sudden malfunction in the boat's steering gear and bad weather, the boat drifted far into the Arabian Sea.

According to the ICG, Indian Coast Guard Headquarters No. 3 (Karnataka) received information on October 24 about the missing Indian Fishing Boat (IFB) Saint Anton-I from Goa. Upon receiving the information, the ICG launched a search and rescue (SAR) operation. The boat was last reported approximately 100 nautical miles from New Mangalore. The ICG dispatched the ICGS Kasturba Gandhi patrol vessel, already on regular patrol, to the location of the distressed boat. Simultaneously, a Coast Guard Dornier aircraft was dispatched from Kochi to locate the missing boat.

The Coast Guard, using the Integrated Operations Centre and real-time weather data, plotted the boat's probable course and dispatched a patrol vessel in that direction. Meanwhile, the Dornier aircraft located the boat in the Arabian Sea, and the ICGS Kasturba Gandhi patrol vessel approached the boat to provide logistics support, assess the damage, and repair the steering system on the spot.

The ICG Coast Guard ship then handed over the distressed IFB Saint Anton-I to another IFB for safe towing to the fishing port of Honnavar. This rescue operation proved the ICG's motto, "We Protect."