TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VASCO: Fourteen fishermen had a lucky escape when they were rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday, after an outstation fishing trawler developed a leak in the engine room off the Mormugao Port.
Speaking to Herald, Coast Guard Commandant O P S Aksay Jain said they had received a message from the Mormugao Port Trust about the ill-fated fishing trawler. “We alerted the nearby merchant ship MT Courcheville through the remote operating system (ROS) to extend their help to the 14 fishermen stranded on the trawler. The Coast Guard then swung into action and pressed its Coast Guard ship C-148 for search and rescue mission,” said Jain.
“The Coast Guard team headed by Dy Commandant S Roy rescued all 14 fishermen and saved the trawler from sinking by pumping water from the engine room Since the water had flooded the engine room, the trawler became non-functional,” he said.
Coast Guard DIG M V Baadkar stated that Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado had personally contacted him to seek the Coast
Guard’s assistance in saving the fishermen and the trawler.
“Furtado confirmed that though the fishermen were not from the State, he wanted to ensure their safety,” said DIG Baadkar.
Speaking to Herald, Furtado said he had also dispatched a trawler to rescue the 14 fishermen as soon as he received a distress message.
Chairman of the Zuari Fishermen Marketing Society Seby D’Souza said that the Director of the Fisheries Sharmila Monteiro had requested him to save the 14 fishermen stranded off the breakwaters at MPT.
“Responding to Monteiro’s request, we dispatched a fishing trawler ‘Ocean Queen’ to bring back the 14 fishermen, after they were rescued by the Coast Guard” said D’Souza.
Trawler security lapses exposed
TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VASCO: Various security lapses were exposed on the ill-fated trawler as the vessel did not have life jackets for its crew, the trawler did not have any valid documents and nearly all fishermen did not have any identity card.
The 14 fishermen rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday said they had left the Kochi fishing jetty on January 27 and were at the sea since the last seven days, when their trawler encountered the leak in the engine room off the Vasco coast at about 3 am. Twelve fishermen are from Tamil Nadu, while two are from Kolkata.
“We tried to flush out the water from the engine room till 6 am and when our efforts failed, we tried to alert nearby ships for help,” said Suman Das from Kolkata, one of the rescued fishermen. “With the help of a dinghy, we went to a merchant ship and they provided us with food and a water pump to flush out the water. But this small pump was unable to remove the water from the engine room.”
Asked if the trawler owner had provided them life jackets, Das replied in the negative. “The life jackets were provided to us by the Coast Guard,” he said.
Coast Guard Dy Commandant S Roy later informed Herald that the ill-fated trawler did not have any valid documents.
“The fishing permit and the insurance of the ill-fated trawler ‘Lady of Snow’, which is also known as ‘Sahitya’ had expired a year back and the vessel did not have any valid document to venture out in the sea for fishing activity,” said. Roy.
Roy also said that only one of the rescued fishermen, Sunil from Tamil Nadu, had an identity card with him. “The rest did not have any identity proof,” he said.
