TEAM HERALD
CANACONA/MARGAO: 28 crew members were rescued when a trawler capsized after colliding with another fishing vessel in the Arabian Sea off Agonda on Friday afternoon.
All crew members had a lucky escape as other trawlers in close proximity rescued all 28 stranded crew members from the ill-fated trawler ‘Libya’ and brought them safely to the Cutbona Jetty.
The trawlers had converged at the site following reports that the highly prized ‘solar shrimps’ were sighted in the area, about 2 nautical miles from the Agonda beach coast.
While most trawlers were casting their nets in close proximity to each other, the ‘Libya’ trawler was also in the process of casting its fishing net, when it reportedly collided with another fishing vessel, sources told Herald.
With the impact, water began to gush into the ‘Libya’ trawler and the panic stricken crew raised an alarm. Responding to their cries for help, the other trawlers rushed to their rescue and pulled out all 28 crew members before the trawler sank in the sea, added sources.
Coastal Police confirmed that all the crew on the ill-fated trawler were equipped with life-saving jackets and that most crew members were from Orissa.
Meanwhile, ten crew members aboard a fishing vessel were rescued by life guards after the vessel drifted towards the shore and ran aground at the Varca-Fatrade beach in the wee hours of Friday.
For the crew members, their 15-hour long ordeal in the mid sea finally ended at around 6.30 am today when they were rescued by the life guards with the help of two jet skies.
Interestingly, though the vessel lay grounded at the Varca beach since morning, there were no representatives of any of the departments at the beach to inquire into the incident.
Sources said the ill fated fishing vessel had ventured out in the sea from Vasco in the wee hours of Thursday. Trouble started at around 3 pm when a rope got entangled in the vessel fan, causing a snag in the engine. Since 3 pm on Thursday till early Friday morning, the vessel was virtually drifting in the sea.
Lifeguard in charge, Shashikant Jadhav told the media that they ventured out in the sea after receiving a message that a vessel with 10 crew members on board was drifting in the choppy waters. “Immediately, a life guard team ventured into the seat with two jet skies and rescued the 10 crew members on board the fishing vessel”, he said.
A resident of Navelim, Britto lamented that through the incident had come to light early Friday morning, neither officials of the Fisheries Department nor other departments took time to inquire with the crew or boat owner till 12 noon.
“As a friend of the boat owner, I had narrated the incident to Fisheries Minister, Avertano Furtado at around 6.30 am. Sadly, we did not find any official visiting the Varca beach even till 12 noon. That only shows the concern of the authorities towards the fishing community,” Britto said.
