Goa Khabar : Thirteen students from the Dona Paula-based National Institute of Oceanography, who were on a marine study tour, were rescued in a swift operation by Drishti Marine lifesavers off Miramar beach, after a fishing trawler they were onboard, ran aground on a sandbar around 200 mts off the coast on Tuesday morning, triggering panic.
The rescue operation was launched from Drishti Marine’s newly deployed temporary floating platform at Miramar, Seahorse, which is aimed at reducing response time in case of water-based emergencies.
The incident occurred at 10:15 am on Tuesday (January 13), when lifesaver captain Shahish Ballikar spotted the stationary trawler, which was overcrowded beyond normal fishing capacity. Shahish, along with lifesaver Swapnil Khandolkar, immediately launched a jet ski from the Seahorse platform off Miramar beach to assess the situation. The trawler crew requested assistance. Operators of a nearby trawler were requested to tow the grounded trawler with a rope, but the rope snapped during the initial rescue attempt.
Noting anxiety among the students trapped onboard the grounded trawler, Drishti Marine launched a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), in addition to the jet ski, in order to evacuate the occupants of the trawler. A total of 13 students, including nine females and four males, were safely rescued from the stranded trawler and brought ashore to safety. No injuries were reported.
Ahead of the festive season, Drishti Marine had deployed four floating Seahorse platforms at popular high-footfall beaches, namely Calangute, Candolim and Miramar in North Goa and Baina in South Goa, to maintain vigilance over the beach stretches. The temporary floating station allows lifesavers to monitor swimmers and beachgoers from vantage points at sea and react quicker to water-based emergencies.
