The Indian Coast Guard Ship Samarth responded to a distress call and rescued 15 crew from a fishing boat named Milad, off Goa coast on Monday late night as a very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae with winds gusting up to 185 km per hour began making landfall on Gujarat's Saurashtra coast near Diu.
"Indian Coast Guard Ship Samarth rescued 15 fishermen off Goa coast and towed the boat Milad to safety. Another Coast Guard Ship Samrat sailed out from Mumbai to attend to a distress call from a vessel off Mumbai with 137 personnel onboard", informed the ICG in a tweet.
Two more Indian Coast Guard Ships at sea have been diverted and directed to rush to Bombay High off Heera oil fields for rescue operations of the stranded crew onboard P-305.
Earlier today, the Indian Coast Guard informed, "Indian Coast Guard Ship Samarth while responding to a distress call, rescued 15 crew from a fishing boat named Milad, off Goa coast today. All crew are safe and boat is being towed ashore."
Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Monday spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the impact and devastation caused by the Tauktae cyclone in the state.
"Spoke to the Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji regarding the impact and devastation caused by the Tauktae cyclone in the state of Goa," said the Goa CM in a tweet. He further said that the Home Minister inquired about the damage and assured of full support to the state.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting to review the preparedness and assistance being provided by the Armed Forces to civil authorities to tackle the situation arising out of Cyclone Tauktae.
"Three ships (Talwar, Tarkash and Tabar) are on standby with aid and relief material for immediate assistance to affected areas, if required. Balance ships on the Western seaboard are also on standby for assistance to fishing boats/small boats stranded due to rough weather. Navy's Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft on surveillance are continuously broadcasting cyclone warnings to fishermen," the statement further said.
"Indian Air Force has deployed its aircraft to transport personnel and tonnes of a load of NDRF to Ahmedabad. On May 16, IAF had deployed two C-130J and one An-32 aircraft for transportation of 167 personnel and 16.5 tonnes of a load of NDRF from Kolkata to Ahmedabad.
( With inputs from ANI )
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