Commander Abhilash Tomy KC; this photo was taken at the time of Thuriya’s launch in Goa in 2017 (Photo: Shyam G Menon)

Commander Abhilash Tomy KC, who was injured badly after his sailboat, Thuriya, was rolled and dismasted in a severe storm in the Southern Ocean, was rescued earlier today (September 24), reports in the Indian media said.

Upon reaching Thuriya’s location, the French fishing patrol vessel Osiris dispatched a team (with stretcher) in a small boat, which successfully shifted the injured naval officer from his sailboat to Osiris. Abhilash is conscious but tired and dehydrated, a media report quoting his father, P.C. Tomy, said.

According to an update on the Golden Globe Race (GGR) website, at the time of the rescue both Indian and Australian maritime reconnaissance aircraft were circling overhead. Weather conditions were favorable. A radio briefing was held between the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre on Reunion Island, a doctor at I’lle Amsterdam (an island in the southern Indian Ocean not far from where Thuriya was) and the master of the Osiris before the French crew proceeded to the Thuriya in inflatable Zodiac boats to assess Abhilash’s condition and administer first aid.

India’s Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, has tweeted that Osiris will take Abhilash to I’lle Amsterdam. He is expected to reach there by September 24 evening. Later, INS Satpura – one of two Indian navy ships dispatched to the Southern Ocean following news of Thuriya’s dismasting and serious injury to Abhilash – will take him to Mauritius, the tweet said. I’lle Amsterdam is part of French Southern and Antarctic Lands, an overseas territory of France. I’lle Amsterdam has a good hospital with X-ray and ultrasound equipment, the GGR website said.

Thuriya and Abhilash were participants in the 2018 Golden Globe Race (GGR) entailing solo nonstop circumnavigation of the planet in a sailboat. Ahead of storm in the Southern Ocean, Abhilash was placed third in the race. Following the dismasting and severe back injury, Abhilash was unable to move and confined to his bunk in the Thuriya. At the time of writing, details of the injury were not known.

According to the update on the GGR website following Abhilash’s rescue, Gregor McGuckin, the Irish sailor and GGR participant who was sailing towards Abhilash’s coordinates despite his own vessel being rolled and dismasted, was still 25 miles west. Gregor was attempting to motor-sail to Abhilash’s help under a small jury rig and with neither self-steering (he has to hand-steer) nor properly working engine. He was in contact with reconnaissance aircraft and although not in distress has requested for a controlled evacuation, a decision commended by race organizers given he has 1900 miles of Southern Ocean to tackle in a damaged boat and at the present juncture, has rescue assets close by.

(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai. For more on Abhilash, Thuriya and GGR please scroll down or select from this blog’s archives.)