Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, September 23
The ordeal of Abhilash Tomy, the injured Naval officer drifting in the south Indian Ocean in his damaged sailboat, may end by Monday.a tweet, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Spoke to VCNS VAdm Ajit Kumar P, AVSM, VSM regarding the condition of injured navy officer @Abhilashtommy. The rescue mission is being coordinated with the Australian Navy. The injured officer shall be picked up in the next 16 hrs by a French vessel Osiris.”
From the French ship, Tommy is expected to be shifted to Australian Navy vessel HMAS Ballarat which is equipped with medical facilities. HMAS Ballarat has already sailed from Perth this morning.
Indian Navy frigate INS Satpura, which has been diverted towards Tomy’s location in the South Indian Ocean for rescue, will reach there by Friday, a Navy spokesman said.
Drifting in the high sea for about 48 hours now, the Navy officer, the only Indian participant in the Golden Globe Race (GGR), has complained of vomiting and chest burning. The race organisers tweeted his message sent to them via satellite.
“5 lugged cans of ice tea. Having that. Vomiting. Cont. chest burnin,” Tomy said in a message which was tweeted by the GGR this afternoon. According to GGR, Tomy has not drunk water since his boat was hit by a storm on September 21, leaving him injured and damaging his yacht.
The 39-year-old sailor, who has circumnavigated the globe once, had on July 1 embarked on the 30,000-mile journey through some of the world’s toughest seas aboard a non-motorised sailboat all alone.
A Navy plane tasked with locating Tomy has successfully spotted the yacht. Tomy heard the noise of the plane and got very excited. “Heard AC (aircraft). ETA Rescue? (expected time of arrival of rescue?),” Tomy asked the GGR organisers via satellite.
Navy officer asks ‘ETA Rescue?’ after hearing noise of plane
A picture of Abhilash Tomy’s boat taken from the Navy plane on Sunday morning.
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, September 23
Drifting in the high seas for about 48 hours now, Abhilash Tomy, the daring Indian Navy officer who is the only Indian participant in the tough Golden Globe Race (GGR), has complained of vomiting and chest burning.
He has had some ice tea. Organisers of the race have tweeted Tomy’s message sent to them via satellite.
“5 lugged cans of ice tea. Having that. Vomiting. Cont. chest burnin”, Tomy said in a message which was tweeted by the GGR at around quarter past three this afternoon.
According to GGR, Tomy has not drunk water since his boat was hit by a storm on September 21 and left him severely injured besides causing major damage to his yacht.
The 39-year-old sailor, who has circumnavigated the globe once in the past, had on July 1 embarked on the 30,000-mile journey through some of the world’s toughest seas aboard a non-motorised sailboat all alone.
The Navy has deployed a frigate INS Satpura (with a Chetak helicopter on board) and tanker INS Jyoti for rescue of its intrepid officer who is a winner of the Keerti Chakra.
INS Satpura and INS Jyoti were operating in the Indian Ocean from where ships were diverted to the South Indian Ocean for the rescue operation.
A Navy plane tasked to locate Tomy has also successfully spotted the yacht. Tomy heard the noise of the plane and got very excited. “Heard AC (aircraft). ETA Rescue? (expected time of arrival of rescue?),” Tomy asked the GGR organisers via satellite.
Tomy’s location was initially tracked to approximately 1,900 nautical miles south west of Perth, Western Australia. The boat may have drifted further off from the coast by now.
According to GGR, a French fisheries patrol vessel arranged by the Australian marine rescue authorities to reach the scene has got delayed due to bad weather. Gregor McGuckin, a fellow GGR participant who is heading toward Tomy in his sailboat, has also slowed down because of the weather.
However, Australian warship HMAS Ballarat, which is tasked to provide medical assistance to Tomy after his rescue, has set off for the scene this morning.
In a press statement issued at 4.15 this evening, Indian Navy said its P-8I aircraft operating ex-Mauritius visually sighted the ‘SV Thuriya’ (Tomy’s yacht) at 0750 hrs this morning. Continuous watch over the boat is being maintained by Navy and RAAF aircraft till rescue is completed.
“The officer in his last text message has indicated that he is safe on the boat; however is immobile due to back injury,” stated the press release.