The Indian Coast Guard evacuated an injured fisherman from a fishing vessel about 54 nautical miles, roughly 100 km, off the Mangaluru coast, after he went overboard while the crew was hauling nets. The rescue was mounted at night in difficult conditions at sea.
The fisherman was identified as Komara Ramu. He was aboard an Indian fishing boat that had sailed from the Mangaluru fishing harbour at Bunder three days earlier for deep-sea fishing, and the accident happened while it was working its nets well offshore.
He went into the sea as the crew hauled its nets and was pulled back out by his fellow crew members. The crew's recovery of the man from the water came first, before any outside help was called in. By the time help was sought, the request was for an urgent medical evacuation rather than a search for a missing man.
According to the accounts, the boat raised the alarm over VHF radio and Coast Guard District Headquarters-3 responded by deploying the ship ICGS C-448. The Coast Guard vessel reached the area and found the fishing boat despite the darkness, with the operation run through the night in testing conditions.
Ramu was evacuated from the boat and given first aid, the accounts say. He was landed at the New Mangaluru Port Authority's jetty and moved to a hospital nearby for further treatment. One account describes him as disoriented when he was taken off the boat.
The accounts differ on the vessel's name, which appears as both Shiv Sagar and Shiva Sagar, each time as an Indian fishing boat. The port authority is likewise given as the New Mangaluru Port Authority and the New Mangalore Port Authority.
Only one of the accounts dates the operation, placing it in the early hours of November 1. Neither says how long Ramu was in the water before the crew reached him, how far the Coast Guard ship had to travel, or what injuries he suffered. It is also unclear whether the boat stayed on its fishing grounds after he was taken off or headed back to harbour. The hospital treating him has not been identified, and there was no word on his present condition.
What the accounts establish is the outline: a man overboard far from shore, a crew that got him back on deck, a radio call, and a night passage by a Coast Guard ship to bring him in. The district headquarters handled the call, and the accounts do not mention any other crew member being hurt. Whether he is out of danger is not yet known.
(With inputs from media reports)