The ten fishermen, who were rescued from the Maldivian waters to Vishakapatnam, were brought back by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
After these fishermen drifted into the sea near Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari from Thengapatnam on April 16, the engine of their boat failed, and they were left adrift, with no assistance whatsoever, for a period of five days.
Finally, on April 26, an MV Furious, a bulk carrier, was able to safely extricate the fishermen.
Ministry of Defence in a statement said that out of them, eight belong to Vizhinjam in Kerala while two are from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. Preliminary medical examination of all these fishermen was carried out on-board the Coast Guard ship and all were found to be in healthy state.
The Ministry added that the fishermen were rescued by MV Furious from Maldives search and rescue region in coordination with Indian Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Coordination Center on 26th April. Based on information received at this Centre, Indian Coast Guard Ship Vigraha was dispatched to embark these rescued fishermen from the merchant vessel transiting off Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Earlier in January, the Indian Coast Guards helped conducted a rescue operation of almost 14 Indian fishermen, who following a malfunction of their fishing vessel, was left stuck in the Solomon Islands.
These 14 fishermen embarked on a journey on November 27, where nine of them were from Kerala and five of them from Tamil Nadu.
(With inputs from PIB).
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