Captain Anil Choudhary Bestowed with Sagar Samman Award for Gallantry, In recognition of an Exceptional Act of Outstanding Bravery 

On 7th November 2022 at 1450 LT,  MRCC Singapore released a distress signal to look out for a boat LADY R3 3 with 303 people on board in position at the South China Sea.  The captain of the cargo ship Helios Leader (Japan flag) immediately responded to the message and proceeded to assist and informed the concerned. 

After an extensive search, the boat was located adrift 7 nautical miles SW of the reported position and found that it was disabled with no Engine power or steering, moving violently in sea and was taking water inside.  Weather in the area had worsened with a swell of 3- 4 metres and BF5 NE’ly winds. 

The boot was overflowing with large number of men,  women and small children who were all screaming and shouting for help. Seeing the gravity of the situation and hours of darkness approaching, the Captain opted for an unconventional rescue operation by manoeuvring their huge car carrier alongside the small disabled craft.  He was not only able to bring both vessels safely alongside but maintained the position by manoeuvring for next 4 hours until the operation was completed in such a bad weather. 
The crew then proceeded to manually haul up of 303 survivors which included 24 women and 20 children,  most of them were weak dizzy and sea sick and they had also ran out of food and water a few days ago.  The rescue operation was completed at around 1930 Hours without the loss of a single life or any injury.  They proceeded to the closest 250 nautical miles away port off Vung Tau in Vietnam where all the survivors were disembarked. The master and entire crew were appreciated and felicitated by Vietnam, Singapore, Sri Lanka and The Company of Master Mariners of India in India. 

In recognition of an exceptional act of outstanding bravery demonstrated in extraordinary adverse circumstances in a maritime situation, including at risk to one's life the National Maritime Day Celebration (Central) Committee bestowed the Sagar Samman Award for Gallantry to Captain Anil Choudhary of the ship Helios Leader. 
Captain Anil Choudhary could not make to join the ceremony as is on sailing at the other corner of the world to respond to the Call of Duty, the award was received by his better half ,wife Dr. Rajeshwari Choudhary. 

Source : National Maritime Day Celebrations( Central) Committee
TST Newsdesk