Boat-wrecked Navy officer awaits rescue

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service 

Kolkata, September 22

Being all alone in the high seas is a frightening prospect, and in a severely injured state is even worse. An adventure-loving Navy officer Abhilash Tomy awaits rescue from his broken yacht adrift in the seas 1,900 miles off the Australian coast.

Rescue efforts through both air and sea have been launched to save Tomy, a participant in the Golden Globe Race (GGR), but the intrepid sailor will have to “hang in” there for a while before the help arrives. 

GGR is a 30,000 mile journey through some of the world’s roughest seas in a non-motorised sailboat all alone. Tomy earlier sailed round the globe in 2012-13, becoming the first Indian to do so. But this time he got hit by a storm and got into serious trouble.

“Solo sailors in the 2018 Golden Globe Race (GGR) have been hit by a vicious storm mid-way across the South Indian Ocean … 39-year-old Tomy has been injured. Race HQ received his message at 12:09 UTC (around 5-30 in the evening yesterday): Rolled. Dismasted. Severe back injury. Cannot get up,” a statement issued by the GGR stated.

In an email sent to The Tribune, Barry Pickthall, GGR spokesperson, informed that Gregor McGuckin, a fellow GGR participant, is heading toward Tomy in his sailboat. McGuckin is about 90 miles southwest of Tomy. The expected time of arrival of McGuckin at the scene is between 1-30 pm to 7-30 pm tomorrow.

Maritime Rescue Coordination Committee, Australia, has requested assistance from ships in the area. The Indian Navy has also diverted its vessel INS Satpura for rescuing Tomy. The frigate was sailing in seas near South Africa. An Indian P8 aircraft has been also tasked for the rescue mission. The Australians are in touch with Indian Defence Attache at Canberra Capt MK Rai to keep themselves abreast about the Indian plans.