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The Director of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Response Center, Alan Lloyd, addresses the media in the Authority's Control Room in Canberra, Australia, on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, in front of a photo of the yacht of the Indian sailor Abhilash Tomy. Lloyd says that Tomy and an Irish sailor rescued from damaged sailboats in the southern Indian Ocean will be delivered to the mainland when they reach an island and undergo medical examinations. (Rod McGuirk / Associated Press)
An Indian and an Irish sailor rescued from damaged sailboats in the southern Indian Ocean landed on an island Tuesday to undergo medical examinations, officials said.
French fishing patrol Osiris rescued injured Indian 39-year-old Abhilash Tomy and 32-year-old Irishman Gregor McGuckin on Monday after their boats lost masts during a storm on Friday.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which coordinated rescue operations in the Australian search and rescue area 3,500 kilometers south-west of Perth and 3,000 kilometers south-east of the French island of La Meeting, a French research station on the isolated island of Amsterdam on Tuesday.
"They will be evaluated by a medical team before any decision," said the authority in a statement.
The station has a doctor and a small hospital where the conditions of the two sailors will be assessed, said the director of the Authority's intervention center, Alan Lloyd. Tomy had reported a back injury during the storm that left him bedridden.
"The two sailors have also been reported," Lloyd told reporters. "Tomy was able to help himself by transferring the ship to the Osiris."
The Indian Minister of Defense, Nirmala Sitharaman, tweeted Monday that it was "a sense of relief to know that this naval officer" Tomy had been "saved by the French fishing boat". He is conscious and well.
She said that an Indian Navy frigate was going to take Tomy from the island of Amsterdam to Mauritius to receive medical care.
Lloyd said that a frigate from the Australian Navy would reach the island of Amsterdam on Friday with plans to take the two sailors to the Australian port of Fremantle.
Whether Tomy travels to Mauritius or Fremantle will depend on his medical assessment in Amsterdam, Lloyd said.
"At this point, we think his condition is stable, but we are obviously waiting for the final medical opinion," he said.
A P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft of the Indian Armed Forces from Mauritius helped the authorities assess the condition of the sailboats.
McGuckin lost both masts, but built a temporary jury to bring his boat a few miles from Tomy's boat to offer help. McGuckin was saved more than four hours after Tomy, according to a statement from the authority.
Indian Navy spokesman Captain D.K. Sharma said Monday that Tomy was in third place in the race that started in France on July 1 when he lost his mast.
"I'm sure he would have brought laurels to the country. Unfortunately, this feat could not be realized, "said Sharma. "But we are very happy that he is safe and we will meet him again soon."
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