BHUBANESWAR: A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, which had evacuated 842 persons in Gujarat during extremely severe cyclone Tauktae, rescued 10 fishermen of Jagatsinghpur district who were stranded in the middle of a river in pitch darkness on Tuesday.
The 10 fishermen of Japa village under Erasama police limits had possibly not realized the risk of venturing into Jatadhar river, just a day ahead of very severe cyclone Yaas's landfall in north coastal Odisha.
Their boat reportedly capsized but they managed to swim to a river island.
One of the fishermen telephoned the sarpanch and expressed his apprehension that they might get pulled by the strong river current.
The sarpanch immediately contacted the Block Development Officer (BDO), Tehsildar and Erasama police and informed them about the perilous situation of the stranded fishermen.
Jagatsinghpur collector Sangram Keshari Mohapatra was alerted about the incident and he got in touch with district SP R Prakash.
Two teams of NDRF were stationed in Jagatsinghpur - one in Paradip and the other in Erasama. Prakash, who had accompanied IG (Operations) Amitabh Thakur to Sandhakuda slum in Paradip as some locals were reluctant to get shifted to cyclone shelters, asked Erasama police to assist the NDRF team in reaching the spot.
A 16-member team led by NDRF Inspector Purshotam Singh Rana arrived near Jatadhar river in the evening and launched an operation at 6.40 pm to rescue the fishermen.
"It was raining heavily and squally winds were blowing in the area. Besides, as it was completely dark, the operation was very challenging for us but we are trained to handle such situations and 10 fishermen were safely brought to the shore in our inflatable motor boats," Rana told The New Indian Express.
The NDRF personnel were equipped with rescue lights and life jackets and they successfully completed the rescue operation by 7.10 pm.
Rana's team, which was airlifted from Jamnagar to Bhubaneswar in an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, had evacuated hundreds of persons at Dholera, Dholka and Mahuva in Gujarat during Cyclone Tauktae.
Notably, NDRF's highest ever deployment of teams in Odisha and West Bengal to handle a cyclone situation has been in this year.
"So far, this is the highest ever deputation of NDRF teams in a cyclonic situation in Odisha and West Bengal. In Odisha, the previous record of 50 teams was during extremely severe cyclone Fani in 2019 and 30 odd teams in West Bengal during super cyclone Amphan last year," said DG SN Pradhan.
To handle any exigency arising out of very severe cyclone Yaas, NDRF has deployed 52 teams in Odisha and 45 teams in West Bengal.
"All this has happened as an extra measure of precaution and preparation because the Centre and the State Governments on the basis of the lessons from the cyclones in the past, including Tauktae, are very focused on minimizing damage to life and property and are targeting zero casualty," said Pradhan.
ALSO SEE: