Mangaluru: 6 fishermen feared dead after boat capsizes

The bodies of two of the six fishermen who went missing after their boat capsized in deep sea on Monday were retrieved during a daylong rescue operation on Tuesday.

The bodies of Preetham (24) and Panduranga Suvarna (58) from Bokkapatna were handed over to relatives after the post mortem. The search for Jiavulla (32), Ansar (31), Hassainar (25) and Chintan (21) will continue on Wednesday, sources in Karnataka State Coastal Security Police told DH.

As many as 25 fishermen had ventured out for fishing in the purse seine boat, Shriraksha, owned by Prashanth from Kulai in Bolar, in the wee hours of Monday. The fishermen were to return with the catch on Tuesday morning. The owner, after failing to contact the fishermen, had alerted other fishing boats and sought their help in tracing the missing boat.

Rescue boats soon came across an empty fishing net in deep sea, about seven nautical miles from Bunder port. A little away from the spot, they found the dinghy boat with 19 fishermen. The fishermen told the rescuers that the boat, overloaded with fish catch, capsized and sank due to sudden gusty winds.

Three fishermen were trapped inside the boat cabin and three others were trapped in the fishing nets when the boat sank.

National Fishworkers’ Forum vice chairman Vasudeva Boloor told DH that the chances of survival of the fishermen are minimal when a boat capsizes on top of them. If the boat had not capsized, they would have swam to safety, he said.

This is the first instance of six fishermen drowning in deep sea in recent times, DK fisheries department deputy director Parshwanath told DH.

Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Dr Rajendra K V visited the Bunder port.

“The fisheries department and coastal security police will continue the search for the missing fishermen. The district administration and fisheries department will extend all help to the kin of the fishermen,” he said.

BJP MLA D Vedavyas Kamath also visited Bunder port and said that he had discussed with district incharge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary on disbursing compensation to the kin of the fishermen who drowned.