Boat mishap: 14 fishermen, 2 divers rescued; 3 still missing

A day after a fishing boat sank in the Arabian Sea, two divers deployed to locate the fishermen on board the vessel were rescued today, Coast Guard officials said.
The boat 'Dutta Sai', carrying 17 fishermen, had sunk about 30 nautical miles west of Mumbai in the sea at around 4 AM yesterday due to bad weather.
While 14 fishermen were rescued yesterday, two Naval divers were deployed to locate the others.
However, the divers also went missing last night amid the rough waters. They were rescued early morning, a release from the Indian Coast Guard said, adding the three fishermen are still missing.

'MV Dependable', a merchant ship had rescued the 14 fishermen. The search and rescue operation was conducted by the units of Coast Guard, Navy and ONGC, it said.
During the search operation, 'INS Trishul' spotted a fisherman in the evening, following which the ship lowered a boat and two divers went to pick up the survivor.

However, both the survivor and the divers could not be seen even at close range by the ship due to rain, bad weather and darkness, the release said.
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A defence release said the two divers who valiantly tried
to rescue a fisherman despite the sea being rough were admitted to a Navy hospital and found to be medically fit.

During the search operation, 'INS Trishul' spotted one of the fishermen in the water.
Navy divers Bipin Dahal and Ganshyam Patidha volunteered to go into the water to rescue him as other methods such as use of ship ladder failed due to "heavy swell (of the sea) and hesitation of the fisherman in approaching the ship".
However, in their effort to reach him, the two divers went adrift when the rope tethering them to the ship snapped. They could not be sighted by the rescuers on 'INS Trishul' due to low light.
The diver pair survived 12 hours in water in complete darkness before being rescued.

On reaching Mumbai the two divers were shifted to INHS Asvini (Navy hospital) and were found to be medically fit and "in high spirits", the release said.
Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra visited them and complimented them for their bravery.