Overview
- On September 18, Commander Abhilash Tomy posted on X with a belated birthday wish to Narendra Modi, publicly recalling a phone call he received while recovering after his 2018 shipwreck.
- Tomy wrote that a French doctor alerted him a call was imminent, and that Modi asked after his health and referenced an earlier meeting.
- He said Modi later mentioned the episode on his Mann Ki Baat broadcast and that the words “gave me the courage to return to sea.”
- Tomy also said INS Satpura later evacuated him and that its commanding officer told him the Prime Minister’s Office was seeking updates every 15 minutes.
- In the 2018 Golden Globe Race, Tomy suffered severe spinal injuries before an international effort moved him via FV Osiris to Amsterdam Island and an Indian Navy P‑8I airlifted him to Mauritius, and he later returned to finish second in the 2022–2023 race.