French vessel to pick up lost Indian sailor

Kochi: Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy will be picked up in the next 16 hours by French vessel Osiris. Thereafter, he is likely to be transferred to the Australian Naval ship HMAS Ballarat, which has already left Perth to take him.

According to Indian Navy sources, the Indian Stealth Frigate INS Satpura can reach the current location only by Friday at the earliest.

INS Satpura, under the command of Captain Alok Ananda, was at sea somewhere in the Indian Ocean when he was tasked to rescue Captain Tomy. Alok turned his frigate towards the last known position of the stranded sailor. As his ship gained speed and cruised on high seas in the rough weather, Alok’s father who seriously ill at his hometown due to old age in Muzaffarpur, Uttar Pradesh, breathed his last on the same day.

The Indian Naval Defence Attache’ in Australia is camping in regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC).

Earlier, the Indian Navy helicopter P8I on Sunday located Naval Commander Abhilash Tomy, who was injured after his sailing vessel Thuriya was hit by heavy storm the other day. He had suffered a serious back injury on Friday after the mast of the boat had broken in the storm.

According to the Navy, the boat is currently in the south Indian Ocean, approximately 1900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia and about 2700 nautical miles from Cape Comorin. The Australian Rescue Coordination centre at Canberra is coordinating the rescue mission in conjunction with many agencies including the Australian Defence Department and Indian Navy. The Indian Navy helicopter P8I was launched at 2 am on Saturday from Port Louis in Mauritius. According to rescue officials who got a visual of the boat, the vessel’s mast has been broken and hanging on the side. “There are heavy clouds and rains in the area,” they said in a statement. “Indian stealth frigate INS Satpura with a Chetak helicopter and tanker INS Jyoti operating in the Indian Ocean have been dispatched and is heading at top speed to reach Tomy,” said officials.

Earlier, the aircraft radars and EO/IR cameras could not pick up the yacht at first owing to rough sea. It was after about 20 minutes of search the crew sighted the boat first. The position was immediately passed on to Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) Australia and War room Delhi through British telecommunications satellite INMARSAT.