The Indian Coast Guard took an injured fisherman off a fishing boat in the Arabian Sea. This happened during the night of Sunday, 1 November 2026. He had fallen overboard while the crew were hauling the nets, Telangana Today reports, quoting a Coast Guard press release.
The fishing boat Shiv Sagar was working about 54 nautical miles (about 100 km) off Mangaluru, in the state of Karnataka. A nautical mile is 1,852 metres.
What happened
The fisherman fell into the water while the crew were pulling in the fishing nets. His crewmates got him back on board. But he was hurt and needed a doctor quickly.
The crew called for help by VHF radio. VHF is the normal short-range radio used at sea. The call went to the Coast Guard district headquarters in Karnataka, known as CGDHQ-3.
The Coast Guard sent the fast patrol boat ICGS C-448. It found the fishing boat in the dark, took the fisherman on board and gave him first aid. It then brought him to the jetty of the New Mangalore Port Authority. From there he went to a local hospital, the Hindustan Gazette reports in Kannada.
The reports do not give the fisherman's name, age or injuries. They also do not say how he is now.
Earlier this autumn, the Indian Coast Guard also brought an ill engineer ashore from an LPG carrier off Kerala.
Safety at sea for crews on fishing boats
Falling overboard while hauling nets is one of the most common ways fishermen are hurt or killed. Ropes, nets and wet decks move fast. These steps help:
Wear a life jacket on deck when you haul or shoot the nets. A working life jacket that inflates by itself does not get in the way.
Keep clear of moving ropes and nets. Never stand inside a loop of rope or net on the deck.
Agree who stops the winch, and how, before you start hauling. One shout or signal should stop it at once.
If someone falls in, shout, throw a lifebuoy, and keep pointing at the person. Note the time and the GPS position.
Call for help early by VHF radio on channel 16. Give the boat name, position, number of people on board and the injury.
Ask for medical help even if the person is back on board. This matters if they swallowed water, hit their head or feel very cold. Problems can start hours later.
Before each trip, tell your family or the boat owner where you will fish and when you plan to return.
There are more emergency and help line numbers on the Crewboard useful links page. For another case of an injured fisherman taken off a boat by a rescue team, read our story from Falmouth, England.
Cover photo: an Indian Coast Guard L&T-class interceptor boat, the same type of fast patrol boat as ICGS C-448, coming alongside in port. The photo shows C-401, not C-448, and was not taken during this rescue. Photo: Indian Coast Guard, Wikimedia Commons, Government Open Data Licence India (GODL-India).
Sources: Telangana Today, 2 Nov 2026: Indian Coast Guard rescues injured fisherman in midnight operation off Mangaluru coast, The Hindustan Gazette (Kannada), Nov 2026: Mangaluru, rescue of a fisherman who fell into the sea from a fishing boat, Mangalorean.com (Kannada), 2 Nov 2026: Coast Guard saves fisherman's life at sea in the middle of the night.
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