Coast Guard Repatriated Six Fishermen of Andaman Distressed Boat reported adrift off Sri Lankan Coast

KARAIKAL, Fishing boat fahima faheda alongwith six (06) indian fishermen of andaman and nicobar islands was repatriated from sri lanka by indian coast guard ship icgs rani durgavati at 1010 hrs on 09 jan 17 at international maritime boundary line (imbl). The port blair registered boat which sailed from south andaman on 27 nov 16, got trapped in to cyclone ‘vardah’. The boat went missing since 12 dec 16.

Accordingly, the mrcc (port blair) launched sar efforts & alerted all concerned for missing boat. The distressed boat alongwith 06 crew could finally detected by sri lankan navy on 05 jan 17 off poduvakattu beach (150 mullaitivu 22). The boat engine was reported to be non-ops. The boat was towed by the sri lankan navy to kankesanturai and was repatriation to indian coast guard off imbl on 09 jan 17.

All crew members on taking over onboard coast guard ship rani durgavati were medically checked and all crew reported to be stable.

The repatriated fishermen embarked onboard icgs rani durgavati arrived karaikal port at 2130 hrs on 09 jan 17. They were received at karaikal port by executive officer, coast guard station karaikal, joint director of fisheries, nagapattinam and deputy director of fisheries, karaikal. The boat will be under the custody and care of karaikal fisheries authority till the owners make arrangement to take boat to their base port at port blair post repair. The port blair fisheries administration has deputed two fisheries representative for making necessary arrangements for repair and planning further passage to port blair. During the year 2016, coast guard ships had repatriated a total no. Of 288 fishermen from sri lankan authorities.