KOCHI: Workers of a trawler boat, who set off to the sea on Sunday, were bewildered when they pulled the heavy catch into the boat. For, instead of some big fish, they had ‘caught’ a huge engine! Clueless, they brought the item back to Munambam harbour and reported the incident to the police by Monday evening.
Experts from Naval Aircraft Yard were informed and they rushed to the harbour to examine the object.
That was when the mystery was solved. The rusty catch was, in fact, an engine that was used in fighter planes around 40 years ago.
“It is a piston radial engine of fighter aircraft used around 40 years ago. Fighter planes nowadays use jet engines. As the engine is rusted, we need detailed examination to find out the make and type of aircraft in which it was used,” said a spokesperson from the Navy.
A Coastal Police inspector said the engine would be more than 40 years old. “The fishermen informed us about the incident on Monday evening and we examined the engine. The boatmen said it got entangled in the net around 15 nautical miles off Munambam harbour. The Munambam police has it now,” said the inspector.
The engine weighs around 1,500 kg. The boat, Sealine, was returning after a five-day fishing expedition when they got the weird catch.