How a Kerala cop’s timely action saved six fishermen from drowning

Pavithran, of Kasaba police station in Kozhikode, went after a message that wrongly came to his wireless phone.
Policeman Pavithran
Policeman Pavithran
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The message was unclear, breaking and feeble. Senior civil police officer Pavithran heard it just once on Wednesday afternoon. It sounded like someone's life was in danger. He tried to listen in again but the wireless phone at the Kasaba police station didn't flicker. The officer in Kerala's Kozhikode would not give up, he'd go from control room to marine office and seek every way to find the origin of that SOS call. His relentlessness would save the lives of six fishermen that day.

At first Pavithran contacted the control room but they had not received such a message. He heard the recorded messages to be sure. Next he contacted the telecommunication wing that handled all the wireless messages of the district. But they too had nothing to give him.

Another possibility was that it might have been an FM message that came to the police wireless phone. But Pavithran thought it is too risky to make that assumption in case it really was an urgent appeal for help.

Finally he found out that it came from a fishing boat through a friend who worked in the marine enforcement. But no police officers who were deputed to the marine enforcement from Kadalundi or Bekal, the stations nearby, got the fishermen's message. Even so they passed on the information from Kasaba station to the coast guard and other fishermen.

The search began soon after and a fishing boat was found nearly drowning 17 nautical miles away from Kadalundi. Other fishing boats rushed to the spot and rescued six fishermen who would have lost their lives had they been a little late. All because a policeman had been extra alert in going after a message that lost its way and reached him by mistake.

The six fishermen had lost the range in their phones and the wireless system was not available when their boat floated into restricted zones. In their confusion, they pressed random buttons on the walkie talkie which sent a message to Pavithran's wireless. The dutiful officer learnt about their escape after they were safely brought ashore and given medical aid. The district police chief congratulated and rewarded Pavithran for his prompt action.

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