Y Navin Kumar
Port Blair, Jan 15: Six fishermen, who went missing from Andaman after Cyclone Vardah and were later reported safe from Sri Lanka, have finally returned Andaman safely.
All six fishermen had gone out for fishing on 29 November 2016 from Port Blair and after fishing in Andaman Sea for nearly five days, their boat suffered engine failure because of Cyclone Vardah.
According to these fishermen for next two days they were drifting in sea after which they took a joint decision to raise a makeshift sail and head towards the direction of wind to Chennai, with the help of GPS device but somehow they reached Sri Lanka.
From Sri Lanka they anyhow contacted their family members at Port Blair and with the help of Andaman and Nicobar Administration they have been brought back to Port Blair via Puducherry.
All six fishermen reached Andaman via passenger ship, M V Harshavardhana on Saturday and were received by the villagers at the Port Blair.
“We had almost made it to Chennai but just 240 nautical miles we lost wind and started drifting again. Finally we took help of a fishing dinghy, which was Sri Lankan, they gave us food and water. We are thankful to local Administration for bringing us back,” said Mohd. Nazir one of the fishermen who reached at Port Blair.
According to Sri Lankan Navy the fast attack craft, P4445 of the 4th fast attack flotilla of the eas tern naval command of the island nation, had spotted the boat at Poduwakattu sea area on 5th January 2017.
Upon rescue, the fishermen were taken to Sri Lankan Naval Base at Walagamba.
Later the boat was brought upto International Maritime Boundary Line by Sri Lankan Navy Ships and from where all the fishermen with their boat were brought back to Karaikal, Puducherry by Indian Coast Guard vessel.
Two staffs of Andaman’s Fisheries Department had gone to Puducherry for the identification of the Fishermen.
