Six stranded fishermen rescued by Coast Guard

Chennai: Coast Guard has rescued six fishermen who were stranded in mid-sea off Tuticorin coast in Tamil Nadu for three days after their boat’s engine failed. Acting on a message from the state Fisheries department about a missing boat with the fishermen, Coast Guard Eastern Region authorities deployed their vessel ‘ICGS Abhiraj’ to search for it. The ship located the boat stranded in the sea 11 nautical miles off Tuticorin Wednesday night, a Coast Guard release said. The fishermen were found highly dehydrated due to lack of proper intake for three days and were given medical aid immediately, it said. The ICGS ‘Abhiraj’ technical team found that the engine of the fishermen’s boat failed due to a snag and towed it to Mandapam near Rameswaram where it was handed over to the department, it said.