Indian Coast Guard rescues 511 Ganga Sagar pilgrims from stranded vessels in Bay of Bengal | Kolkata News – Times of India

KOLKATA: Five hundred and eleven pilgrims on their way back from Gangasagar were stranded in the Bay of Bengal since Sunday night when their ferries got stuck in the ocean near Kakdwip due to a low tide and dense fog before they were finally rescued by the Indian Coast Guard personnel on Monday afternoon.
The ferry vessels — MV Icchamati and MV Agramati — were ferrying pilgrims from Ganga Sagar Mela at Sagar Island to Kakdwip.

The West Bengal government sent relief items to the vessels stuck in the mud and sought help from the ICG to conduct a rescue operation and get the passengers out of the sea.
The ICG officials said, at around 9.15am on Monday, a message was received from district magistrate of South 24 Parganas at Coast Guard District Headquarters No 8(Haldia), intimating about the grounding of the two ferries.
The ICG, after ascertaining the position, dispatched two hovercrafts from Haldia and Frazerganj to provide rescue assistance.
“Our rescue team reached the scene around 9.45am and pacified the stressed-out passengers. The hovercrafts started evacuating personnel at around 10am to the nearest point at Kakdwip. The hovercrafts completed evacuating all the 511 pilgrims onboard both the ferries by 1pm,” an ICG official said.