PANAJI: In Egyptian mythology, Osiris is the god of rebirth. Fittingly, a French vessel named Osiris finally located injured Indian Navy
sailor Abhilash Tomy after a
rescue effort involving four nations, over four gruelling and tense days in one of the remotest parts of the world: the southern Indian Ocean.
Tomy, 39, had been injured after his two-masted yacht, Thuriya, was caught in a storm over 5,000km south of Kanyakumari and 3,000 km west of the Australian coast.
A commander with the Navy, Tomy is the first Indian and the second Asian to complete a solo, unassisted circumnavigation of the world on a sailing ship. Winner of the Kirti Chakra and Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award, he is a noted name in international sailing circles.
On July 1, he embarked from France on the 2018 Golden Globe Race that is held in honour of the 1968 competition of the same name, which was the first circumnavigation of the world on a yacht.
The race is held in honour of the 1968 competition of the same name, which was the first circumnavigation of the world on a yacht.
Tomy was on no ordinary yacht — the Thuriya is a replica of the Suhaili, the vessel on which Robin Knox-Johnston won the 1968 race. Suhaili was built in Mumbai, while Tomy’s replica was built in Goa.
The 18 competitors in the race were to sail around the world on yachts similar to Knox-Johnston’s, and use only those kinds of technology available in 1968, barring a single satellite link each.
Each sailor packed 1,000 ready-to-eat meals, while Tomy had 140 litres of water, supplement by harvested rainwater.
On September 2, Tomy rounded the Cape of Good Hope, first of the three ‘gates’ on the voyage. On September 21, Tomy and another sailor, Gregor McGuckin from Ireland, were hit by a storm. The Thuriya was battered by 70-knot (130kmph) winds and waves 14 metres high. First the masts were damaged, then yacht capsized briefly. Tomy’s satellite device was broken, but he managed to send a text message from another device saying he had a back injury.
This triggered a multinational search and rescue operation involving vessels from India, Mauritius, France and Australia, which ended with Tomy being located. A French fisheries patrol vessel, Osiris, approached the stricken Thuriya around 11am IST and a team boarded the yacht. Tomy was given basic first aid and stabilized on a stretcher before being lifted to the Osiris.
The P-8I was the first aircraft to have reached the area despite the lingering stormy weather and locate the Thuriya
Capt DK Sharma, Indian Navy spokesperson
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra coordinated the high sea rescue and reported that Tomy was “conscious, talking and onboard the Osiris”.
An Australian Air Force P8 Orion and an Indian long range P-8I Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft remained on station circling over the Thuriya’s position, providing air support.
By Monday evening, Tomy had been shifted to the nearby French island of Ile Amsterdam for a full medical examination. Indian
Navy stealth frigate INS Satpura, which was in the region, is on its way to the island to pick up Tomy to take him to Mauritius. McGuckin, whose boat had also been damaged and capsized, was rescued as well.