A Battle in the Sea

Eight fishermen stuck in the cyclone-ravaged sea off the coast of Somnath in Gujarat recently would have surely met a watery grave, but the team of Gujarat officials which launched an equally strong rescue operation (with the SDM of Verawal Ms. SH Zankar at the helm of the affairs) decided to battle out the unruly waves. What followed was a drama in real life.

May 17, 2021, saw the rise of Cyclone ‘Taukte’ impacting several parts of Western India, including Gujarat. A timely warning was issued all over the coastal regions, asking the fishermen to stay away from the sea. The fishermen finished their work early, tied up their boats so that they don’t drift away, and headed towards their homes situated in the coastal region.

In the wee hours of the dawn, at around 3 AM, one of the fishermen realized that his boat got loose due to a malfunction and strayed away in the rising sea. He couldn’t bear to see his only source of living and practically his life washed away by the hard waves that were hitting it. He frantically called out to his friends who immediately came to his help. Thus the three friends took another boat, pushed it in the river, and paddled away in the midst of the cyclone to save the stray boat.

The water of the sea was in no mood to allow any outsider within, leading them to get astray as well. Looking at the plight of their fellow fishermen, five other men got onto a third boat to save the other two boats! At the moment nobody realized that the lives of eight men would be at immediate risk, and they would soon be annihilated by the crashing sea waves.

What happened next? In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, SDM Veraval, Ms. SH Zankar narrated the ordeal and the major rescue operation that followed.

Cyclone Taukte disrupted the functioning of several people around the sea

STUCK IN THE SEA

So now, eight fishermen and three private boats were stuck 200 meters into the sea, getting crashed between high tides and vigorous waves.

“It’s a cove – a bay area in the shape of the letter ‘C’ with one end at Somnath Temple and the other end at the fishing harbor. The boats were lying between the edges. I came to know about the incident at 4:30 AM from my Residence Additional Commissioner and that eight of our fishermen’s lives are in peril and we immediately left our residence to reach the coast. Indian Coast Guards’ teams and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were also present at the location,” she recalled.

The boats got stuck in the midst of water

QUICK RESPONSE

Ms. Zankar saw to it that everybody worked together in synchronization and assigned responsibilities accordingly. She immediately called for an ambulance in case someone was in need of medical assistance. Police officials and the ASP of the place were also informed and they too reached the spot.

“We reached there at around 6:30 AM and could see the people stuck in between the sea. By that time, the intensity of the waves had subsided and we could make out what the situation was.”

She realized that the first boat was 100% stranded and seemed impossible to be brought back and the other two contained people inside. Their priority lay in saving those people’s lives.

Each team gave up their best in rescuing the fishermen

RESCUE OPERATION

Owing to the rocky beaches, the rescue team had to take ‘dinghys’ (small boats) to bring back the stranded people.

“A dhingy has the capacity of seating 3-4 people and not more than that. They are not really rescue-appropriate and are usually used for recreational purposes such as boating in shallow lakes. The boats were stuck in such a weird location that only dinghys could reach there, which were our only option,” Ms. Zankar told Indian Masterminds.

Even people with their big, private boats tried to help in bringing the fishermen out of the water but they soon realized that the current of the water was acting against them, so they couldn’t help further.

Commandant of the region also called for rescue equipment from Porbandar. After four hours of serious labor, the Coast guard could get a hook line tied up till wherever was possible and ultimately managed to save the lives of all the fishermen. They even tried to save the boats as much as was possible since that is their only source of livelihood for the locals. However, two of those boats got drifted into the heavy current and banged on a huge rock near Somnath temple. The first boat that had drifted away in the water got completely demolished.

“We could see the remnants of the boat from the coast. Once all the fishermen exited the water, they were immediately given medical assistance as they were dehydrated after long hours on the boat. Police did their work appropriately and controlled the crowd. By 11 in the morning, we were through with everything,” stated the officer.

A video that captured the ordeal

HELP FROM THE AUTHORITIES

Two days later, with the special permission of authorities and the Somnath authorities, the fishermen rowed small boats to their original boats to salvage material such as fishing nets, etc.

“We also helped them out and for the first time in the history of Gujarat, financial aid of Rs. 5 lakh per boat was given to the fishermen. Now they are in good state and have received the maximum remuneration that the government could have provided,” stated Ms. Zankar.

The rescue operation could have gone wrong had it not been for the continuous efforts of the administration, coast guards, police, and the fishermen.