Indian Coast Guard ship IGCS Veera rescued nine fishermen off Andhra Pradesh coast in Bay of Bengal on Friday (6th April 2024). These fishermen had suffered severe burns injury after their boat caught fire and sunk at sea. Ministry of Defence in a statement said that sensing the urgency of the situation, ICGS Veera reached the location within a few hours to provide assistance to the survivors. It added, all nine survivors were shifted to ICG ship where they were provided first aid by a medical team. Later, all the injured fishermen were shifted to King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam for further treatment. Due to the swift response by the ICG ship, the entire rescue mission was completed within a short span of six hours.
Indian Coast Guard is the lead agency for providing assistance to fishermen at sea as well as the national coordinating agency for Search and Rescue at Sea.