TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Vice-President of Betul Boat Owners Association Thomas Rodrigues said Thursday that contrary to claims by the Indian Coast Guard that its vessel ICGS Vaibhav had not been damaged in the collision with the trawler off the Canacona coast, that led to the loss of six lives, he categorically stated, “the vessel is damaged on both sides”.
Speaking to Herald, Rodrigues questioned, “If the ship had brushed the trawler on one side, how is the Coast Guard vessel damaged on both sides? The trawler was hit in the middle and ripped into two. The hole in the trawler was made by the Coast Guard vessel. As a result she sank within five to ten minutes after the hit. This also gave them enough time to make a distress call.”
Narrating the incident which took place on April, 26 at around 5 am, Rodrigues said “Some of the crew was saved because they had floaters, while the others who could manage wore life jackets.”
Every vessel is equipped with various wireless channels. These channels can be used to contact other vessels while at sea. Mostly trawlers are connected to channel 71. In case of any distress, they tune to this channel which connects to the nearest vessel which can move towards the distressed vessel. Also every trawler is fitted with the Global Positioning System (GPS), which allows the other vessels to find exactly where the distress call came from.
“When Sea Messiah was sinking, the tandel sent out the distress call on channel 71. As he was nervous he did not tell the GPS point. All he said was ‘Save us, save us.’ It was around that time when ‘Yana Marine’ Panjim based trawler was entering Goa from Karwar which saved the 23 fishermen, who were in the sea for around five hours,” he says.
Rodrigues along with Sea Messiah owner, Martin Fernandes, asserted that when the ship was anchored, the lights were very much switched on as they are solar lights and once it gets dark the lights switch on.
“Even if the lights were off, the ICGS Vaibhav is equipped with state- of- the-art- technology which can detect any boat with or without light at a distance of 60 kms. However the lights of Sea Messiah were switched on,” says Rodrigues, who was seconded by Fernandes.
Five bodies of the crew were found while one is still untraceable. The site of the bodies which were found is disturbing, he says. Some families of the deceased are in Goa to perform the last rites, while some are yet to come.
“We hope the families as well as the trawler owner get compensated for the loss incurred,” says Rodrigues.
The surviving fishermen are busy attending to the families of the deceased some are at the post-mortem site, while some are called for the investigation by Yellow Gate Police officials. We are giving our full cooperation to the Coast Guard as well as the Department of Fisheries, said Rodrigues.
Coast Guard reacts…
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Coast Guard, Thursday said the PRO had merely detailed (to Herald) on Wednesday the claims initially made by those on board the Offshore Fast Patrol vessel ICGS Vaibhav and had added that the investigation is in progress to reveal the actual findings.
“The statement of the PRO in this regard was, therefore, not the final position of the Coast Guard as investigations are still in progress,” a press statement said, adding that the Coast Guard condones the loss of life in the tragic incident and is very serious about the probe being conducted.
