Karwar: Fishermen caught in the midst of Cyclone Kyarr were rescued by an operation conducted by the Indian Coast Guard near Kurumgad Island off the Karwar coast on Saturday, October 26 early morning.
The Indian Coast Guard had received a distress call from a fishing boat that had been trapped at sea due to the cyclone on Friday, October 25 night. However, the fishermen could not be immediately rescued as the weather had gotten worse, owing to the cyclone.
“IFB Raj Kiran ex-Malpe, Reg no. KA-02-MM-4103 was reportedly in distress off Karwar,” confirmed the Coast Guard.
Indian Coast Guard Headquarters (Karnataka) and the Coast Guard station at Karwar were incharge of the rescue operations. The operation itself was executed by Coast Guard ship Amartya which is based out of Mangaluru.
Coast Guard steps up SAR operations
In a statement to the press, the Indian Coast Guard said that it had stepped up efforts to carry out Search and Rescue Operations (SAR) in the wake of Cyclone Kyarr. “One Coast Guard aircraft has been positioned at Coast Guard Air Enclave to augment the surface assets. Dornier aircraft is undertaking frequent sortie to look for stranded fishing boats and their positions are being relayed to Coast Guard Ships operating at sea,” they added.
The following ICG ships have been assigned for the Karnataka and Goan coasts:
- Pollution Control Vessel Samudra Prahari
- Fast Patrol Vessels: Amal, Apoorva, Amartya, and Rajdoot
- One Coast Aircraft
The Coast Guard also informed that they were in effective liaison with all three coastal District Authorities in Karnataka.
They further said, “As of now, approximately 500 IFBs from other states (Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamilnadu) have taken shelter at Karwar, and nearly 120 IFBs are docked at Udupi and Mangaluru.
