TADADI (UTTARA KANNADA) : Three fishermen, who were cleaning a fishing boat, asphyxiated to death after inhaling poisonous fumes emanating from rotten fish inside the boat.
The three fishermen, all from Kumta taluk -- Naushad Ali Raja (35) from Kagal village, Aman Ayub Langadu from Onhalli and Amir Abdul from Unchalli -- died on Tuesday evening after getting into a purse seine boat ‘Khuzaina’, owned by Khasim from Vanhalli, also in Kumta taluk.
“They had gone towards Goa where they caught a fish variety called chaman, which gets spoilt within 24 hours. The catch was big, but their arrival at the Tadadi port was delayed by a day. By then, the entire lot was spoilt,” said Gokarna Inspector Sridhar SR.
After anchoring the boat, one of the fishermen went to clean the fish hold, but collapsed. Seeing him faint, four others got in. They too fell into the cold storage tank, unable to bear the pungent odour.
Plenty of fish were rotting at the bottom, says prof
The fishermen managed to get the one who collapsed first out of the cold storage unit, but could not get out on their own. Acting swiftly, the Gokarna police arrived at the spot and rushed them to a local hospital. Three were declared dead, while Abdul (55) from Bhatkuli is battling for life.
Local fishermen said Chaman, also known as Indian scad or Tonka, is not edible, and is sent to the factory to make powder. “When we catch this fish, we are careful in how we dispose of it. These people had got a big catch. This is the first such incident where fishers have suffocated to death,” they added.
“Normally when fishermen catch scads, they do not add much ice as it is not edible fish. As fish are rich in vitamins, they release a lot of ammonia while rotting. As per my information, these people had cleared the boat of scads, but still there were plenty rotting at the bottom. Ammonia is highly toxic gas and this is the gas they have inhaled,” said Shivakumar Haragi, professor and chairman, Department of Marine Biology, Karnataka University, Dharwad.
