19 December,2014 12:47 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
The Coast Guard rescued four fishermen whose boat sank in the rough sea on Thursday, and are looking for a fifth. The four had held on to a life-ring for hours and were rescued in the morning
The Coast Guard rescued four fishermen whose boat sank in the rough sea on Thursday, and are looking for a fifth. The four had held on to a life-ring for hours and were rescued in the morning.
The fisherman Samru Nishad, who is missing
The small fishing boat, Yash Devta, IND MH 2MM 4387, went out to sea on December 14, carrying five fishermen from Madh Island. The boat was powered by a four-cylinder engine and had food stock for 10 days.
Kiran Mahadev Koli, head of Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti, said, "Latest and new technologies of fishing are taking the place of traditional methods. The new methods pollute the sea.
Therefore, fishermen who use the old technique have to go deep into the sea. These fishermen went to sea at 16 fathoms, which is 26 kilometres. There they were supposed to stay for several days to catch fish."
Koli added, "The sea has been very rough for the past few days. The wind coming from the East has been creating cyclones and huge waves in the sea." Officials from the Coast Guard said that on Thursday, at 2.30 am, when the boat was turning left, a huge wave crashed onto her and a lot of water accumulated inside the boat.
The pump that flushes out water stopped functioning. Soon three waves hit the boat, and in a few seconds she started sinking. Four of the fishermen managed to swim and grab hold of a life-ring in the water.
Unfortunately Samru Nishad (52) could not get hold of anything. The fishermen had alerted the officials about their condition after the first wave. Koli added, "The boat sank. The fishermen used a light flash to seek help. They also held onto the life-ring for a few hours in the cold water.
The Coast Guard and other fishermen rescued them, but Nishad has still not been found. The Coast Guard is using helicopters in the search operation." The four rescued fishermen have joined the search operation for Nishad.
On December 16 another boat, Harbadevi Prasanna, sank and four fishermen managed to escape from it. Koli said new fishing technologies are forcing traditional fishermen to go into deeper waters - leading to such incidents and making it difficult for them to earn a livelihood.
