They protect you on land, but got stranded at sea. A fishing boat Mauli, carrying policemen who were patrolling the coast near the sealink, was found stranded in the sea about 2 nautical miles from Bandra Bandstand on Wednesday morning.
At 5.30 am, Coast Guard helicopters rescued the four policemen and five crew members aboard the boat.
On Tuesday evening, the boat had set sail to secure the coast during the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli sealink where top dignitaries of the country like Congress President Sonia Gandhi and and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, were present.
The boat was scheduled to have returned to Ferry Wharf at midnight, but was forced to remain in the sea because of rough weather.
A source, requesting anonymity for protocol reasons, said a high tide accompanied by wild waves took the boat deeper into the sea and it hit some rocks. The situation got worse when the engine got stuck in a fishing net.
“The net blocked the engine and it turned off,” said a police official, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak with the media. The crew tried to fix the engine for over an hour, without any success.
“Finally, an SOS call was sent to the police control room who then informed the Coast Guard,” said Public Relation Officer, Coast Guard, Commandant DK Chauhan.
{{/usCountry}}“Finally, an SOS call was sent to the police control room who then informed the Coast Guard,” said Public Relation Officer, Coast Guard, Commandant DK Chauhan.
{{/usCountry}}A team of 50 Coast Guard officials rushed to the spot and assessed the situation. They called for choppers from their Colaba base. Then using ropes, the Coast Guards pulled up the policemen and crew to safety and took them to their Worli base.