One fisherman died and six others reached the shore safely on Thursday after water entered the boat through a hole and the boat began sinking in the sea near the lighthouse off the coast between Antarvedi and Narsapur on Wednesday night.
Of the six survivors, three swam to the shore and three were rescued using fibre boats and a helicopter.
The fishermen _ Seru Iswara Rao, G Veera Babu, B Sattibabu, Gollaiah, G Sattibabu, Ramu and another _ belong to Etimoga, Dummulupeta, Uppalanka and Pagadalapeta near Kakinada. They had into the sea on a mechanised boat, FNZA 763, owned by Palepu Chandravati of Etimoga four days ago.
On their return to Etimoga, the boat could move no further as it reached near the lighthouse at 8.30 pm on Wednesday.
By then sea water seeped through a hole and filled three-fourths of the boat. The frightened fishermen rushed to the deck and shouted for help. They also called up the boat owner who, in turn, alerted officials and the boat owners’ association.
Rescue operations were undertaken at Antarvedi immediately but were not successful. Two marine speed boats, which were requisitioned from Kakinada, also failed to locate the damaged boat due to bad weather.
The rescue operations were resumed early on Thursday morning. A helicopter, which was pressed into service, located the boat and two boats were sent immediately to rescue the fishermen.
Meanwhile, three of them swam to the shore and the three others who remained stranded on the boat were rescued.
One, Ramu died and the body was not traced. Amalapuram deputy superintendent of police Sridhar supervised the rescue operations.