- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has honoured Indian Australian pilot Captain Ritesh Bhamaria with the prestigious Certificate of Commendation as part of its Exceptional Bravery Sea Award, Australia Today reported.
The bravery award offers international recognition for those who carry out acts of exceptional bravery at the risk of losing their own lives.
In December last year, Captain Bhamaria was in the middle of piloting oil vessel MT Godam in adverse weather conditions through the Torres Strait in the north of Australia when he and his vessel crew tracked a distant hand in the rough sea waving for help.
Soon it was found that two local fishermen were stranded in the middle of water after their boat capsized. The two men, an uncle and nephew, were without survival equipment and survived in the adverse conditions for nearly 17 hours.
Captain Bhamaria at once took action to rescue the two men. It was not easy for the sight of the duo was lost a number of times and then the crew realised that there was a danger lurking around – the two fishermen were being surrounded by hammerhead sharks.
Instead of risking the ship’s crew by deploying a rescue boat, Captain Bhamaria took a tough call. He turned the 251-metre ship around in the restricted waters.
“Without hesitation, I turned the ship to the side where I had clearance,” he told Australia Today, adding, “The two biggest issues were maintaining sight of the two men while we turned the ship around and then approached them safely—a huge ship arriving alongside a piece of wood with two men holding on, poses quite a risk to their safety.”
Explaining the challenge in rescuing the two men, Captain Bhamaria said, “We couldn’t stop the ship near the survivors—the ship’s propeller would have posed too great a risk to the two men and the reef just behind them.”
“On the first turn, we dropped a smoke marker with a lifebuoy as close as 20 metres from the survivors.
“The fishermen were then able to cling to the buoy, while the smoke helped the approaching rescue craft home in on the location of the survivors. Meanwhile, the movement of the ship in the water deterred the sharks away from the men.
“Then we circled again, keeping the reef behind us, this time with the intention of picking them up. I manoeuvred the ship to within a distance of 1–1.5 meters of the survivors floating on the wooden plank, dropping the speed of the ship to a bare minimum—about two knots with the propellers stopped. We managed to get the uncle out of the water first. But by the time we were trying to get his nephew out, the rescue helicopter arrived, so we lowered him back into the water, so the helicopter could retrieve him safely.”
For the survivors, it was a tough time but Captain Bhamaria’s quick thinking and brave actions gave them a second life. The captain was praised by Barry O’Farrell, the Australian high commissioner to India, after the rescue mission succeeded. Captain Bhamaria acknowledged the appreciation saying his heart and soul will always be there for both India and Australia.
?? Thank You, Your Excellency Sir. Always at the service of my country "Australia " my current home, equally as I would for the country of my birth "India" My Heart and Soul will always be there for the two great Nations. https://t.co/6b95b3GSOo
— Capt. Ritesh Bhamaria ?? ?? (@RBhamaria) December 14, 2020
Mick Kinley, chief executive officer at Australia Maritime Security Authority, said international recognition of this level of bravery from one of Australia’s marine pilots is a significant accomplishment.
“Captain Bhamaria and the ship’s crew displayed outstanding seamanship, coming together to the aid of others,” he said, adding that the former deserved the accolade from the IMO.
Captain Bhamaria shared his honour with the entire pilot community with Australia and the master and crew of MT Godam.
“I am grateful and appreciative that AMSA nominated me for the award,” he said. “However, any pilot would have done the same thing, so this recognition is for the whole Australian piloting community,” Captain Bhamaria added.
“Many thanks to the master and crew of MT Godam, Reef VTS, AMSA and the shore Rescue team, because it was an all-round team effort.”
The IMO awards ceremony will virtually take place from IMO headquarters in London on December 6.
