Mumbai Coast Guard off on rescue mission

MUMBAI, MAY 22: A fleet of ships of the Indian Coast Guard sailed out of the Mumbai Harbour this morning towards Gujarat in a bid to salvage and rescue two ships marooned along the coasts.

According to Mumbai coast guards officials, CGS Samar, CGS Rajkamal and CGS Vijrah left for the Kutch coast after receiving distress calls from M V Atlantica Glory and M V Samiani at around 3 am this morning. These ships have been grounded near the Gujarat coast after being hit by the cyclone which has been lashing the state for the past two days.

Eight crew members of M V Atlantica Glory, which bears a Russian flag and was grounded off Diu, have managed to escape from the grounded ship in a lifeboat and row themselves ashore. But three other sailors were left behind on the ship. These men were eventually saved through a helicopter rescue operation and then shifted to the coast guard hospital in Bhavnagar. Not much information was available about the M V Samiani which has been grounded off Okha.