Injured naval officer’s vessel located: Navy

An Indian Navy aircraft has located the vessel of Indian naval officer Abhilash Tomy, who was badly injured while participating in the Golden Globe Race, “rolling excessively” in the south Indian Ocean, a defence spokesperson said on Sunday.

He said all efforts are being made to rescue Commander Tomy who had suffered a back injury on Friday after his yacht was hit by a vicious storm with waves as high as 14 metres midway across the south Indian Ocean.

“INS Satpura and INS Jyoti are heading at top speed to reach Tomy,” the spokesperson said.

The situation was being monitored at the Naval Headquarters in New Delhi, as well as by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Melbourne, Australia.

Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat is on its way to reach Tomy, he said.

The Indian Navy’s P8I aircraft, which flew from Mauritius in the early hours of Sunday, has located the “mast broken boat rolling excessively”, he said. “Commander Tomy responded by ping on EPIRB as the aircraft was flying over him,” the spokesperson said.

Quoting Captain Chandrahas Vivek, pilot of the aircraft which flew from Mauritius, the spokesperson said the aircraft established visual contact with the yacht and has landed back at Port Louis, Mauritius.

The position was relayed to JRCC Australia and the war room in New Delhi through Inmarsat, a mobile satellite communication system, he said.

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