PULICAT: It was not just police personnel, who assembled in large numbers, for search and rescue operations after the Pulicat lake accident. A nine-member diving team from the Indian Coast Guard was on site at the crack of the dawn, fishing out bodies from the waters. The divers were, in fact, having a get-together with their families on Christmas evening when they were asked to strap on their suits and report for duty. The nine-member team, comprising R B Singh, A K Akbar, S Kumar, D Kumar, Surjeet, Alok Sharma, J Kumar, Jaiprakash, R K Lohar and R Kumar, responded in right earnest.After receiving the phone call around 6 pm on Sunday, the team got together at their office in half an hour and began preparations for the rescue operation. With two ‘gemini’ boats, oxygen cylinders, face masks and other equipment, the team arrived at Pulicat before sunrise on Monday, as instructed.With a Coast Guard chopper aiding the search operations, the divers on their boats were directed to the bodies through hand signals. With 12 bodies already recovered the previous night, the divers were left with the task of finding 10 bodies. “We will not leave without recovering all the bodies. This place is not deep, sea is shallow. Even while using motor boats, you have to tread slowly here,” a diver said as they fished out three bodies.A policeman from the Coastal Security Group, who accompanied the divers, said they are usually the first to get information on drowning incidents across the Tamil Nadu coast. “We came in our boat on Sunday evening but could not anchor as the waves were rough. It was too breezy and, above all, the water was shallow. We informed the Coast Guard as we needed their specialised services for the search operations,” a CSG man said. “These divers are usually posted in the Coast Guard ships and are called in as and when required. The last time we had a search operation was earlier this month when a person drowned off the beach in Mahabalipuram,” he recalled.The CSG, along with Coast Guard and Tamil Nadu police personnel, conducted search operations and recovered the bodies. “We had to wait for sunrise to begin operations. Some of the police personnel were in the island near the mouth of the sea throughout the night though we could not find any more bodies. But we won’t leave the place without recovering all of them,” CSG personnel added even as he pointed at the fateful boat which stood on the sands of an island at the mouth of the sea.
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