Seven crew members of a tug which caught fire and got flooded five nautical miles off Nagapattinam were rescued by the Coast Guard on Friday.
The Chief Engineer of the tug, who jumped along with the crew, is missing. A search is on to trace him.
The Coast Guard station at Karaikal received a distress call at 1.45 p.m. from the tug, Aqua Marine, belonging to a Mumbai company.
The message sought the Coast Guard’s help to save the crew.
Coast Guard Station Commander Commandant Udhal Singh alerted a Coast Guard ship, Abheek, which was on patrol close to the International Maritime Boundary Line off Point Calimere. It reached the spot by 2.15 p.m., Commandant Udhal Singh told The Hindu on the phone.
The ship rescued seven crew members who had jumped into the sea wearing life jackets.
A search went on for over four hours to trace the Chief Engineer. However, he could not be traced till late in the evening.
The search will resume on Saturday morning, the Coast Guard said.
The rescued crew members were provided medical aid on the ship, which arrived at the Karaikal port at 6.30 p.m. The Coast Guard handed them over to the port authorities.
