A 19-year-old boy, identified as Dewang Subil, came to the rescue of four stranded locals with his drone off the coast of southern India's Kerala on January 5. The incident took place at a beach adjacent to the Arabian Sea in the Nattika region of the Thrissur district.

A video witnessing the rescue operation features two boats in the middle of the sea. The boats are full of rescuers setting off the search for the stranded locals. The boats navigated by Dewang finally find the fisherman upon reaching the deep waters.

It took the first set of officials at least six hours to conduct the rescue operation, at the end of which, they returned to the shore empty-handed. However, with Dewang's assistance, the second round of the rescue operation was winded up within 30 minutes. Skeptical at first, Dewang somehow managed to find the stranded fishermen since they were floating close to one another.

Upon receiving the news of a boat being capsized in deep waters, Dewang came up with the idea to use his drone to comprehend the situation. However, he was stalled initially. It was only after coming in contact with Geetha Gopi, a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Nattika, that his suggestion was considered. Moreover, it was only after reaching the spot that Dewang realized that four fishermen were missing.

Upon coming in contact with the MLA, Dewang was immediately granted permission to board a rescue boat and use his drone for the rescue operation. The drone, having a 15 km (9.321 miles) radius, traced the four fishermen in under an hour. There were a total of seven rescuers present on his boat.

The drone detected the first three fishermen within no time. However, the fourth fisherman had swum his way towards the shore and was just 3 km (1.864 miles) away from the coast. He was found when the rescue boat was returning. The rescue team immediately rescued the troop, and they were brought to medical attention upon reaching the shore.

Being an engineering student, Dewang wanted to conduct the operation from the shore. However, given the distance where the boat capsized, he was required to get on board and conduct the search from the waters. He released his drone when the rescue boat was 11 nautical miles away from the shore.

Dewang's timely intervention saved the lives of four people. Moreover, this was the first time a drone camera was used in a sea rescue operation in southern India.

Based on the turn of events, the Kerala Fishing Boat Operators Association has planned to submit a proposal to the state fisheries department to deploy more drones and train rescuers to use them.