Thrissur: B.Tech student Devang’s drone saved the smiles of four familes. Devang had stepped forward to locate the fishermen who had gone missing at sea the other day.
18-year-old Devang is the son of Koprakkalam native Subil, who owns Amulya Jewellers in Thalikkulam. He is a student of Christ University in Bengaluru. He has been training to fly drones near Thambankadavu ever since the pandemic forced the colleges to be closed. His father informed him of the incident while he was sitting at home. He told Devang to offer his help if he can. Devang immediately left to Thampankadavu with his drone and informed Geetha Gopi MLA that he is willing to go to sea in order to find the missing fishermen.
The MLA conveyed this to Vadanappally SI, JJ Jinesh. Following the SI’s approval, Devang got into the search boat with his drone. Devang admitted that he was nervous as this was his first time venturing into the sea. He said that he is happy to help in saving four lives during his first voyage into the sea. Devang operated the drone from the search boat. Geetha Gopi MLA honoured him when he came back to Nambikkadavu beach.
Parassinikkadavu Muthappan boat had gone to the sea on Tuesday morning at 4 am. Subramanian (60), Vijayan (55), Iqbal (50) and Chembanadan Kuttan (60), who is also the owner of the boat, were the fishermen who went missing after the boat capsized. They were rescued between 1.30 pm and 2 pm on Tuesday. The fishermen stayed afloat on sea by holding onto plastic buckets and tanks.