Navy rescues injured fisherman

The Navy rescued a critically injured fisherman 200 kilometres south east of Colombo yesterday.

The fisherman had left from the Negombo Harbour for fishing in a fishing vessel named “Lakshan Putha IV”. He had got critically injured in the head after knocking himself against a buoy while fishing 300 kilometres off the Western coast of Sri Lanka. He had begun to bleed profusely and was in a critical condition when the Navy rescued him, Commander D.K.P. Dissanayake said.

The incident was brought to the notice of the Operation Room of the Navy Headquarters by the Ministry of Fisheries.

The Navy headquarters in turn alerted the Western Naval Area Command for a rescue operation.

A naval craft was subsequently dispatched and the injured fisherman was brought ashore, Dissanayake said.

The naval personnel on board the naval craft had provided the patient with the immediate medical assistance.

They had applied field dressing to arrest the profuse bleeding and the excessive loss of blood in order to save his life.

A naval medical officer and a naval medical team were kept in readiness when the patient was brought ashore.

The medical team rushed the injured patient in a naval ambulance to the National Hospital in Colombo after providing initial medical treatment. Upon admission to the hospital, he was made to undergo an emergency surgery. He is now at the accident ward receiving further treatment.