The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Friday saved lives of at least 16 fishermen of Bangladesh by providing critical assistances to their boat “Thamanna”, which had developed technical snag in the Odisha coast, informed Coast Guard personnel on Saturday.
The Coast Guard ship Sucheta Kripalini, during its patrolling, marked Thamanna in the sea, approximately 35 nautical miles to the east of Paradip. Going near the Bangladeshi boat, the Indian crews found the vessel had developed a technical snag in its propeller-shaft and had been drifting since November 3 in the mid sea.
They then provided food and medical assistance to the Thamanna crews and brought them to Paradip anchorage for further investigation.
During investigation, Indian officials found the Bangladeshi crews innocent and repaired their boat by the Coast Guard.
Then, the Coast Guard escorted the Bangladeshi fishing boat along with its 16 crews to the International Maritime Boarder with Bangladesh for repatriation.