Nearly 240 fishermen from Vizag rescued near Odisha coast

Around 240 fishermen from Vizag who were stranded off the Odisha coast were rescued by the district officials. With the impact of a recent storm in Bay of Bengal, 30 mechanized boats of Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour were stranded in the sea near to Ganjam District when they went for fishing 6-7 days back. In this situation, the fishermen made an SOS call to the authorities asking them for help.

Soon after the incident, Visakhapatnam District Collector Dr. A Mallikarjuna and Vizag City Police Commissioner Manish Kumar Sinha IPS contacted Ganjam District officials. They requested the officials to ensure the safety of all the fishermen near the Odisha coast. It is learnt that the timely intervention by the officials of Vizag and Ganjam districts helped in saving the lives of the fishermen. 

In a similar incident, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Wednesday rescued 11 fishermen who were stranded at sea 35 nautical miles off the Mangalore coast. Their boats had been damaged due to the strong winds. ICG officials ensured that the fishing boat as well as the fishermen reached Malpe Fishing Harbour safely.

Last year, a fishing boat at the Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour had caught fire and the Indian Coast Guard had sprung into action. All five fishermen onboard that fishing boat were rescued and the authorities had also extinguished the fire and brought the boat back to the shore.