New Delhi, Apr 6 (UNI) Acting swiftly, Indian Coast Guard Ship Veera, on patrol off the Andhra coast in the Bay of Bengal, saved nine fishermen who had suffered severe burn injuries after their boat caught fire and sank in the sea.
The ICGS Veera received a radio message on Friday from a nearby fishing boat about a raging fire onboard the Indian fishing boat (IFB) Durga Bhavani, around 65 nautical miles from Visakhapatnam harbour, a Defence Ministry statement said on Saturday.
IFB Durga Bhavani, an Andhra registered boat, sailed from Kakinada harbour with nine crew on March 26. The boat had a fire incident on April 5, resulting in the explosion of a gas cylinder onboard.
All nine fishermen jumped into the water to escape, but some suffered severe burn injuries in the process.
The fishing boat, damaged due to an explosion, sank at the location within a few minutes. The information regarding the fire and explosion was relayed to the Coast Guard ship by a nearby boat, which proceeded to pick up the survivors.
Sensing the urgency of the situation, ICGS Veera proceeded and reached the location within a few hours to provide assistance to the survivors.
All nine survivors were shifted to the ICG ship, where they were provided first aid by a medical team.
Meanwhile, Coast Guard District Headquarters No 6, in coordination with JD Fisheries Visakhapatnam, promptly arranged ambulances along with medical teams to evacuate the critically injured crew of IFB.
All the injured fishermen were shifted to King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, for further treatment. Due to the swift response by the ICG ship, the entire rescue mission was completed within a short span of six hours.
