The Indian Coast Guard is relaying radio messages and their Dornier aircraft are warning vessels in the Bay of Bengal to return to port and anchor immediately because of the impending Cyclone Remal, a senior officer of the coast guard’s northeast region said.

Several coast guard ships as well as aircraft have been kept in ready to escort, tow and assist any stricken vessel in the Bay of Bengal.

The coast guard surveillance aircraft from Paradip are flying regular sorties over the Bay of Bengal and are not only gathering the coordinates of any vessels out on sea but are radioing their masters or captains to head back to safe anchorage zones at either the Kolkata port complex or Haldia port. “Our Dornier aircraft are flying out regularly and recording the position of any vessel out in the sea. The captains or the masters of the vessels are being radioed by the crew onboard the aircraft asking them to return to the nearest port immediately,” said the officer.

Multiple Indian Coast Guard ships are on “hot standby” — a state where the ship’s crew can launch the ship within a short time and all supplies are in ready — at Haldia in case they need to escort or tow any vessel that faces distress in the sea as Cyclone Remal nears the coastline.

Coast guard stations in Haldia and Paradip are broadcasting multilingual messages asking any vessel that is
out at sea to return to the nearest port. The alerts are
being relayed through very high-frequency radio (VHF) channels.

Merchant vessels anchored off the Sagar Islands have been told to move to safer anchorage points and the port authorities in Haldia and Calcutta have been advised to take appropriate actions.

The state fisheries department has announced a fishing ban from Saturday that will stay in place till Monday. A fishing ban has been placed in the Hooghly river as well, an official of the department said.

A senior coast guard officer said they had also notified the Bangladesh Coast Guard authorities and requested them to undertake necessary preparations.