Paris/Kochi/Mumbai: Even as India, Australia, and other international agencies launched a massive effort to rescue a seriously injured Indian Navy Commander Abhilash Tomy participating in the Golden Global Race (GGR) 2018, the organisers of the race admitted on Saturday he was "as far from help as you can possibly be".
The round-the-world Golden Globe Race organisers have scrambled a team of their own to rescue Cdr Tomy.
The commander is sailing aboard an indigenously built sailing vessel, SV Thuriya, which overturned and dismasted during stormy weather. And Abhilash suffered what he called "a severe back injury". The organisers of the race described him as "incapacitated on his bunk inside his boat" and his yacht is 3,704 km off the coast of Perth, Western Australia.
Abhilash's message from boat
On Saturday, he managed to send a message saying: "Extremely difficult to walk, Might need stretcher, can't walk, thanks safe inside the boat... Sat phone down." The organisers said on the race website: "The Australian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARRC) is working hard to assess and coordinate all possible options to rescue Abhilash Tomy who is as far from help as you can possibly be."
Tomy, a 39-year-old commander in the Indian Navy, is able to communicate using a YB3 texting unit but his primary satellite phone is damaged.
A second SatPhone
He has a second satellite phone and a handheld VHF radio packed in an emergency bag, but organisers said he was unable to reach it for the moment.
The organisers said they had urged him to try to get to the bag because it could be crucial in making contact with a plane from Australia and an Indian air force plane which might be able to fly over the area.
Given the distance from land, the planes will not be able to spend long in the area, the organisers added.
A French fishing boat was also heading to the scene "but may not arrive for a few days".
The SOS
Late on Friday, Commander Tomy managed to relay a message on his SatPhone indicating his condition and seeking help, though he was safe.
The messages were picked up by Indian authorities and ARRC which is now coordinating a rescue mission jointly with several agencies including the Australian Defence Department and the Indian Navy, a defence spokesperson said here.
From India, the Indian Navy's stealth frigate INS Satpura, a Chetak helicopter and a tanker INS Jyoti Mission are engaged in the rescue mission.
All out efforts are now underway to rescue the sailor with the involvement of a civilian business jet for a visual search of the stranded SV Thuriya, Australian military aircraft, besides civilian aircraft which have been requested to attempt communication with Tomy.
A French fishing vessel, Osiris, and a Royal Australian Naval ship, HMAS Ballarat, are preparing to set sail from Freemantle Port, Western Australia, on September 24. Osiris has a medical officer and one bed infirmary on-board, it said. Tomy is approximately 1,900 nautical miles from Perth on the country's west coast.
Another contestant 'S V Hanley Energy Endurance' was also heading towards SV Thuriya though it had suffered damage of its own.
The Golden Globe Race involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe in yachts similar to those used in the first race 50 years ago, with no modern technology allowed except the communication equipment.
Tomy's own yacht is a replica of Robin Knox-Johnston's Suhail, winner of the first Golden Globe Race.
A report issued from France on Friday night said 70 knot winds and 14-metre-high waves have left the yachts of Tomy and Ireland's Gregor McGuckin dismasted, and have twice knocked down the yacht of second-placed Dutchman Mark Slats.
Tomy, who became the first Indian to have circumnavigated the globe in 2013, is the only Indian participating in the Golden Globe Race that involves a gruelling 30,000-mile solo circumnavigation of the globe.
