CHENNAI: A group of fishermen from Kasimedu harbour braved the rough seas for seven hours after their boat collided with a cargo ship last night.
Abdahir (49), Gopi (32), Desikan (33), Logesh (18), Suresh (41) and Papparao (29), residents of Kasimedu, had left the fishing harbour on Saturday at 7 am. At around 11 pm, a collision with an outgoing cargo ship reduced their boat to pieces.
According to Abdahir, they flashed their torch-light in warning when they saw the cargo ship approaching their boat.
After the crash, they held on to the wooden pieces of the damaged boat. At around 6 30 the next morning, they called out to a group of local fishermen approaching them by waving their clothes.
Abdahir said they incurred heavy losses due to submergence of the boat which also had a Global Positioning System (GPS), along with loss of the fishing net.
A complaint was registered with the N4 police station.
Officials said that the fisheries department was also looking into the incident.