Commander Abhilash Tomy rescued by French vessel

Three days after he sent an SOS, Golden Globe Race (GGR) Commander Abhilash Tomy was rescued from the high seas by a French fishing vessel, Osiris, Monday. The Indian naval officer, who braved the midsea ordeal amid extremely rough weather and a serious back injury, was conscious when he was picked up.

Tomy was representing India at the international solo circumnavigation race when his boat, Thuriya, was dismasted amidst wind speeds of 130 kmph and 10-metre-high waves. The Kirti Chakra awardee was in the third position in the race with 11 international participants, having sailed over 10,500 nautical miles in the last 84 days, since setting off from Les Sables-d’Olonne in France.

Expressing relief over the rescue mission, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Commander will be shifted to a nearby island (I’lle Amsterdam) by evening from where he will be taken onboard INS Satpura. He will be then taken to Mauritius for medical attention. 

“A sense of relief to know that naval officer Abhilash Tomy is rescued by the French fishing vessel. He’s conscious and doing okay. The vessel will shift him to a nearby island (I’lle Amsterdam) by evening. INS Satpura will take him to Mauritius for medical attention,” Sitharaman tweeted.

An Indian Navy aircraft, P-8i, dispatched from Mauritius, visually sighted the indigenously built 10-metre vessel S V Thuriya, on which 39-year old Tomy was sailing. His race began on July 1, at 7:50 am on Sunday. The vessel was in the southern Indian Ocean, approximately 1,900 nautical miles from Perth, Australia, and 2,700 nm (approximately 5,020 km on ground) from Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari), according to the spokesperson.

A defence spokesperson later said, “Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) as the aircraft was flying over him.”

The search and rescue mission was launched after Commander Tomy activated the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB). According to Australian TV network’s Channel 9, Tomy sent his first satellite text message on Saturday, saying, “ACTIVATED EPIRB. CANT WALK. MIGHT NEED STRETCHER”, GGR organisers said in a statement. A subsequent message read: “CAN MOVE TOES. FEEL NUMB. CAN’T EAT OR DRINK. TOUGH 2 REACH GRAB BAG”.

Following the emergency beacon message, Australian Defence Forces joined the rescue mission

Tomy is the only Indian in the GGR, that involves a gruelling 30,000-miles solo circumnavigation of the globe in a yacht with no modern technology except communication equipment. On March 31, 2013, Tomy had become the first Indian to complete a solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world by boat, an around-the-world trip that began on November 1, 2012.

The GGR is being organised to celebrate 50 years since the 1968-69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, to complete an unassisted, solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the world via the Great Capes. A key feature of the race is that circumnavigation is being attempted under the same conditions as the original 1968 around-the-world-yacht race.ng.