New Delhi (Sputnik): Indian Navy Commander Abhilash Tomy stranded in the Indian Ocean has been successfully rescued from the damaged sailboat and brought to safety to an island on Tuesday. An Irish sailor McGuckin was also rescued along with Tomy. Both the sailors were participating in the Golden Globe Race (GGR).
Thank you for your support and concern in these trying times. Abhilash has sustained some serious back injuries, however he says he's safe inside the boat. Indian Navy is doing their best as they always have. His tracker is working. He has activated the EPIRB. Help is on its way.
"The sailors arrived at a French research station on remote Amsterdam Island on Tuesday. Their medical assessment results will decide upon the future course from there on," The Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority which coordinated the rescue.
"Commander Abhilash Tomy's 32-feet long sailboat Thuriya toppled braving the gusty wind in the Indian Ocean and he injured his back. For the next few days, Commander Tomy drifted in the boat in the vast Indian Ocean without any help at hand. He was in touch with the outside world through sporadic text messages through satellite and a GPS transmitter which gave his location to GGR race control room in France," his mentor and race manager Commander (retd) Dilip Donde told the media.
Organisers of the Golden Globe Race (GGR) contacted the Australian rescue authorities on Sunday, who found out about Osiris' presence in the vicinity. It reached Thuriya on Monday and rescued both sailors. Osiris was a fishing boat from Seychelles. The boat was seized by the French Navy in 2003 and was turned into a patrol boat for France.
McGuckin, another sailor in the race, lost both masts and he constructed a temporary jury-rig to get his sailboat to within a few miles of Tomy's boat. McGuckin was rescued a few hours after Tomy.