Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel have rescued five fishermen from a sinking boat off Okha coast in Gujarat's Jamnagar district.
ICG ship 'Arinjay' was on patrol when it last night received distress call from fishing boat 'Madhav Krushna', about 110 km off Okha, which faced "heavy flooding due to ingress of seawater", a Coast Guard release said today.
The ship immediately rushed towards the troubled boat.
"On arrival, the fishing boat was taken alongside the ICG ship and all the five crew members (fishermen) were safely taken on-board," it said.
The ICG team tried to take out seawater from the fishing vessel, but the boat could not be saved from sinking as excess water had entered into it. Rough sea conditions also hampered the operation to save the boat, which was registered at Porbandar.
"The rescued fishermen were later brought to Okha for handing them over to fisheries authorities," it said.
In the last one year, 49 people, including these five, have been rescued by the ICG in different operations off the Gujarat coast, the release added.
