On 4 December, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) maritime rescue center in Mumbai received a distress call from the vessel Al Piranpir that sank in the north Arabian Sea.
Following the distress call, the ICG’s north west regional headquarters in Gandhinagar in Gujarat, India was immediately alerted. The ICG’s ship Sarthak was quickly dispatched to search and rescue the crew members. The vessel reportedly went down due to rough sea conditions and flooding while it was on its way to Porbandar. Fortunately, at the time of the sinking the crew had already abandoned the vessel and boarded the small flat lifeboat.
The Pakistan Marine Rescue Coordination Center (MMRC) had been also contacted to alert the nearby mariners. The Pakistan MMRC responded quickly, and a PMSA aircraft assisted in the search efforts for crew members. The merchant ship Cosco Glory also supported the crewmembers’ search and rescue operations.
@IndiaCoastGuard ship Sarthak successfully rescued 12 #Indian crew members of Sunken Dhow Al Piranpir from the North Arabian Sea. The vessel sank on 04 Dec 24 however, the crew had abandoned ship on a dinghy. This humanitarian mission saw close collaboration between #ICG and #Pak… pic.twitter.com/3fcdFBurE2
— Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) December 5, 2024
The search efforts were successful, and the crew members were located and rescued approximately 270 kilometers west of Dwarka, India. A medical team aboard the Sarthak examined the rescued sailors and declared them to be in good health. The rescued crew members were then brought back to Porbandar.
