THOOTHUKUDI: Eight fishermen who were stranded in a mechanised fishing vessel that caught fire off the Tharuvaikulam coast reached Thoothukudi on Sunday. A video of the vessel being ablaze went viral on social media.
Fire spread to parts of the mechanised gill netter vessel as the fishermen were cooking their food on Saturday. As efforts to douse the fire did not yield results, the fishermen gave distress calls to nearby fishing vessels. All the eight fishermen were safely shifted to a vessel even as their boat was ablaze, 160 nautical miles off the Tharuvaikulam coast.
The fishing vessel worth Rs 80 lakh sank in the sea. Also, fish net worth Rs 40 lakh was gutted. A complaint in this regard had been lodged at Coastal Security Group (Marine police) in Tharuvaikulam.
Sources said the vessel belonging to Tharuvaikulam fishing harbour set sail for deep-sea fishing with eight fishermen on Friday.
The ill-fated vessel couldn’t be recovered, said a fishermen leader.
The fishermen who escaped the blaze landed at the Tharuvaikulam fishing harbour on Sunday.
So far three gill net fishing vessels based at the Tharuvaikulam fishing harbour had drowned allegedly due to technical glitches since June 14 when fishing resumed in the sea after the mandatory ban period. One went down 12 nautical miles off the coast and another close to the Thoothukudi harbour. However, no casualty was reported.