Six fishermen stranded on a flooded boat in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast were rescued in the early hours of Sunday, the Indian Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard operations centre here received a distress call on Saturday evening following which its team, which was on a routine patrol on a ship in the waters, rushed to provide assistance to the fishermen, a release issued by the Coast Guard said.
The boat, named 'Vismita', with six fishermen on board, got flooded in the waters following which its engines stopped working. The fishermen were stranded about 24 nautical miles in the sea from Porbandar.
"The Coast Guard ship C-445, which was on a routine patrol, was immediately diverted to render assistance to the distressed boat," the release said.
Technical personnel of the rescue team stopped flooding by plugging the crack in the boat hull and then carried out de-flooding, it said.
"The boat was then safely towed to the Porbandar harbour by another fishing vessel under escort of the Coast Guard ship around 3 am on Sunday," the release added.