Coast Guard rescues 7-member crew of distressed fishing boat in Andaman sea

The Indian Coast Guard ICG on Thursday rescued seven fishermen and their boat, which broke down in the Andaman Sea due to a defect in its gear box, an official statement said.The fishing boat RSN-TWO had sent a distress signal to the ICGs maritime rescue coordination centre in Port Blair on Wednesday morning, it said.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Thursday rescued seven fishermen and their boat, which broke down in the Andaman Sea due to a defect in its gear box, an official statement said.

The fishing boat 'RSN-TWO' had sent a distress signal to the ICG's maritime rescue coordination centre in Port Blair on Wednesday morning, it said. ''Since the alert was activated from an unregistered DAT (Distress Alert Transmitter), details of the boat and its owner were not available with the ICG,'' the Coast Guard said in a statement. Therefore, the information was immediately shared with fisheries authorities seeking details of the boat issued with the said DAT, it noted.

Once the details were obtained, communication was established with the boat and it reported machinery breakdown due to defect in gear box, the statement said.

''The seamlessly coordinated search operation resulted in timely locating of the fishing boat off Tillanchong Island in the morning hours of Thursday,'' it said.