A fishing boat from Dhakti Dahanu was allegedly dashed by a ship in the deep sea, causing damages to the boat after which seawater began rushing into it. The boat had a captain and eight fishermen onboard when the incident occurred. The boat and its occupants were rescued by another ship from Dahanu that tugged it to the shore, preventing it from drowning in the deep sea.
According to the sources, the fishing boat, ‘Sagar Sarita’, belonging to one Vatsala Marde, started fishing on April 2 from the coast of Dhakti Dahanu. This was the second trip of this boat after a break of three months of winter when the fish catch is usually less due to low water temperature. Santosh Marde, son of Vatsala, and the captain of the boat, along with eight other fishermen (workers), were in deep sea in the boat. The boat was into fishing with the ‘Wagra’ style of fishing, using nets to catch big fish like Dadha, Ghol and Koata
On April 6, when the boat was 19 nautical miles from the coast near 19.44 N and 72.24 E coordinates, and the crew members had finished their dinner, a big ship allegedly dashed Sagar Sarita from the back at 7:55pm. The impact of the dash was allegedly so severe that two of the fishermen in the boat fell into the sea. The other crew members helped them to get back in the boat. The dash allegedly resulted in damage to the channel frame near the left side of the rear of the boat. This resulted in the bending of the boat structure. Also, the propeller of the ship was allegedly damaged which adversely affected the boat’s navigation ability, according to sources.
The damage in the channel of the ship allegedly resulted in the seawater rushing into the boat. The crew curtailed the inflow of water by blocking the hole with the bed and bedsheets in the boat. The crew asked for help from another fishing boat ‘Himsai’ also from Dahanu which was fishing in the vicinity. The damaged boat was tugged by it to the shore of Dahanu at 1:30 am on Sunday after the rescue operations started at 9 pm on Saturday, according to sources.
The damaged boat had a small amount of catch and the fishermen on the boat suffered minor injuries. The fishing boat allegedly suffered damage to the ship of more than 2.5 lakhs and the repairs are likely to take over three months which will add to the losses to the fishing crew and the owner, according to sources. The ship that dashed the fishing boat allegedly did not offer any help or assistance to the damaged ship. A police complaint has been registered with Vangaon Police Station which will be transferred to Yellow Gate Police Station for further investigation, sources said.