In a swift operation, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Friday rescued 27 Bangladeshi fishermen, stranded on their fishing boat at sea.

At about 1130 hrs, the ICG Ship Amogh, during patrol at the Indo-Bangladesh International Maritime Border Line (IMBL), sighted a Bangladeshi fishing boat (BFB) Sagar II, adrift inside Indian waters. The ICG ship launched a boarding team to investigate.

During investigation, it was revealed that the boat had a steering gear breakdown for the last two days and had been adrift since then, which led to the boat drifting inside Indian waters. The BFB had 27 crew/fishermen onboard.

The ICG technical team tried to identify and rectify the defect, but it was observed that the rudder of the boat was completely damaged and could not be repaired at sea. As the sea state and weather conditions were conducive, it was decided that the distressed boat will be towed to the Indo- Bangladesh IMBL and handed over to another Bangladeshi fishing boat operating across IMBL or to Bangladesh Coast Guard Ship, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ICG and the Bangladesh Coast Guard.

In the meantime, ICG regional headquarters at Kolkata established communication with Bangladesh Coast Guard and informed them about the incident and plan of action.

Bangladesh Coast Guard Ship (BCGS) Kamaruzzaman was deployed by BCG for towing of BFB. BCG Ship Kamaruzzaman arrived near the IMBL at about 1845 hrs. ICGS Amogh handed over the 27 Bangladeshi fishermen along with their boat to BCG ship Kamaruzzaman.

Source: The Statesman

BDST: 2010 HRS, APR 5, 2024
MN