Torres Strait Rescue: A Miraculous effort by Capt. Ritesh Bhamaria and his crew onboard
A seafarer is known to have virtues more exceptional than civilians for he/she is to serve seas amid rough weather, high tides, circumscribed by water all around. Serving the seas is the character of valour and utmost sacrifice.
A rescue operation carried out by the Indian-origin Maritime Pilot Captain Ritesh Bhamaria along with his crew onboard MT Godam on 3rd of December in Torres Strait, the strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea has broken the Internet and maritime media surely.
Two men who shared an uncle- Nephew relationship aged 37 and 27 expected nothing more than a miracle to happen after their fishing boat sank on the evening of 02 December, 2020. They prayed the almighty clinging onto a petrol drum and a piece of wood that drifted 16 Nautical Miles during the night. The almighty showered blessings to the men in the form of Maritime Pilot Capt. Ritesh Bhamaria and the crew onboard Oiltanker MT Godam.
The two men were first sighted by the eagle-eyed on-board Chief Officer on 3rd of December at 0715 AEST. It didn't take more than 3 minutes from the Maritime Pilot to inform the REEF VTS and Distress message was posted to all stations by 0718 AEST. Captain Ritesh under whose pilotage the ship was proceeding made the call in less than a second to turn the ship around to save the valuable two lives.
At 0715 AEST, they were sighted on the starboard side, about 450 m away. The problem of turning around such a big ship was right from the beginning. There were a lot of problems in keeping up the sight with the 2 survivors. As rain was high, the heavy fog formed on the glass of the binoculars and it wasn't an easy job for the crew to perform the look out. It was due to the adverse situations which resulted in losing sight of the survivors Thrice. One of the crew members when spotted the sight the 4th time, he affirmed the presence of 4-5 survivors. There were a lot of decisions to be made on the Pilot’s part as it was a pivotal part of the operation to decide the number of survivors, location, weather conditions, the probable cause of boat capsizing etc to brief the REEF VTS and the other designated centres.
At last, Pilot ruled out that there were 2 survivors and it was also observed that there were sharks Circling the survivors at some 10-15 feets apart. The videography aptly shows that the water was infested by sharks.
Challenges were quadrupling but Capt Ritesh never stepped back or was hesitant to go for saving the precious lives. The ship was kept at bare minimum speed to have a continuous updation regarding location and feed the same to REEFVTS.
As the fishermen's boat capsized owing to rough weather, the lowering of rescue boats was not an option. Repositioning the ship came with the big issue of the survivors being susceptible to the propeller blades which could have claimed their lives and could have pushed the Pilot behind the bars. There were many things to be kept in mind for the successful operation.
Pilot, further decided to approach the survivors with the ship itself as the approach of such a big ship would chase the sharks away. However due to the proximity of the reefs behind the survivors was going to be a difficult manouvere, as to run the propeller in close proximity of the survivors would have posed the danger of getting these people in the propeller and stopping the Engine would have rendered the ship difficult to turn away from the Reef.
The Pilot took the ship as close as 20 m t the survivors and then proceeding forward, the bridge MOB was dropped and one both the survivors swam 20 metre to the buoy. The Pilot then successfully turned the ship at a distance of about 350m from the Reef and made the second Approach, this time having a clean run with the survivors clinging to the MOB and fully in sight.
The ship was manouvered to survivors such that the survivors were alongside forward of the break of the Accommodation, with propeller fully stopped. The survivors clinged to the additional life buoys deployed by the crew and both of them were pulled up with one of them later being lowered to the Helicopter rescue diver and the other was fully pulled up on board. This survivor was then provided with all the necessary care to ensure his well being.
It was the calmness and focus of the PIlot throughout and moreover the selfless, determination and humane efforts of him which made it possible. A notable fact that couldn't be overlooked is that the ship was as close as 350 m from the reef; the running of the ship into the reef would have devastated the Pilot’s maritime career. Unmindful of the personal losses that the unsuccessful operation would have brought, Capt. Ritesh Bhamaria along with his crew onboard strived tirelessly for rescuing the survivors. By the time they were rescued, the men had been treading water for 15 hours.
Captain Ritesh Bhamaria in center along with the master Capt. Rohit Upadhyay on his Left and C/O Santosh Kumar second to his right along with the crew members of MT GODAM
This incident wholly exemplifies the courage, valour, calmness, leadership and all other positive attributes and adjectives one must imbibe in himself to be a good human being. Captain Ritesh Bhamaria is not only the inspiration to the seafarers working around the globe but also to the billions of common people and has truly shown how relentlessly one should effort to contribute to the gentle cause for humanity.