Indian Coast Guard rescues 511 Gangasagar pilgrims stranded at sea

Kolkata: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), in a swift operation undertaken on January 16, rescued about 511 Gangasagar pilgrims stranded at sea in two different ferries, after they were grounded, off Kakdwip in West Bengal.

ICG Kolkata headquarters shared that at about 09:15 am, on Monday, a message was received from District Magistrate, South 24-Parganas at Coast Guard district headquarters, Haldia, intimating about the grounding of two ferries at sea near Kakdwip. The ferry vessels namely ‘MV Icchamati’ and ‘MV Agramati’, were ferrying about 600 pilgrims from GangasagarMela at Sagar Island to Kakdwip. The operations team of ICG dispatched two hovercrafts from Haldia and Frazerganj for rescue assistance. Hovercrafts arrived at the incident site at 09:45 am and finalized an evacuation plan. Simultaneously, an ICG team reached the stranded vessels to pacify the people. The hovercrafts started evacuating personnel at about 10:00 am to the nearest point at Kakdwip. The hovercrafts completed evacuating all the 511 pilgrims aboard both ferries by 1 pm.

ICG, during the annual Gangasagar Mela deployed sea-borne units at various strategic locations to ensure the safety and security of pilgrims during the fair. Two hovercrafts carried out extensive shallow water patrol to provide safety and security cover round the clock. A rapid life-saving action team of divers with Gemini boats was also positioned at the mela site to ensure the safety of pilgrims during the holy dip in sea/ river confluence.

Additionally, an ICG team headed by one officer from Coast Guard station Frazerganj was positioned at Sagar Island for coordination with the state administration and to supervise seafront safety and security aspects.