Calcutta, June 5: Five fishermen, whose boat overturned in the Bay of Bengal early this morning, hung on to the sinking boat for nearly 10 hours before being rescued by a Indian Coast Guard ship near Paradip in Odisha.

The ship, Rajkiran, on a routine patrol, spotted the six fishermen nine nautical miles (about 17km) from Paradip light house around 2.30pm, a coast guard spokesperson said in Calcutta. 

There were seven fishermen on the boat and one of them was missing, he said.

The coast guards rescued K. Chinnapanna, 36, the boat master,  M. Tatarao, 45, B. Erraraju, 47, G. Krishna, 24, Anga Kallodu, 60, and B. Jagannath, 55, while Rama Rao, 45, was missing. 

A search was conducted but he could not be found till late night.

An official said the boat had capsized around 5am. They said strong winds of about 60 nautical miles per hour, heavy rain and swelling water had caused the boat to overturn.  

“Six persons were seen clinging to the sinking boat and they had no other means of survival. Despite the rough sea state, which not only makes such rescue difficult, but also requires adept handling by the ship’s crew, Rajkiran proceeded to rescue the survivors,” said the spokesperson.

The rescued members were provided with first-aid and food onboard. They informed that the boat belonged to Odisha and one of the crew members had been missing. Inspector general K.S. Sheoran, the coast guard regional commander (Northeast), said the ship would continue to patrol the area in search of the missing member and hand over the survivors to Paradip.