The Navy rescued nine members on board a fishing trawler which developed ingress of water in high seas.

Nine crew members of the trawler were rescued yesterday in high-seas, (240 nautical miles) of north-west Goa, an official release of the Navy said.

Acting on a distress message sent by the trawler ‘Kadal Matha’ at 11 am yesterday, the Western Naval Command at Mumbai directed its unit INS Nashak operating near the area to locate and render assistance, it said.

“INS Nashak, a guided missile vessel commanded by Lieutenant Commander Nitin Kapoor of the 22ndMissile Vessel Squadron, located the trawler within two hours of receiving the distress message,” the release said.

The warship salvaged the trawler by stemming the leak and taking it under tow.

It was later handed over to Indian Coast Guard vessel ’Samrat’, which towed the trawler to safety at Goa.