THOOTHUKUDI:Three fishermen, who were dropping a country boat into the sea using a crane suffered serious injuries on Sunday when the crane was pulled into the sea at Therespuram, a fishermen hamlet at Thoothukudi.
The three were identified as Jeyakumar, Micheal and Samsu, all from Therespuram. On Sunday the trio along with the owner of the boat, Jerald, were using a crane to drop the new boat into the sea from the fish landing jetty. The crane, unable to bear the boat’s weight, was pulled into the sea. In the mishap the trio on the boat suffered critical injuries on their heads and shoulders. The injured were taken to a private hospital.
When Thoothukudi North Police personnel reached the spot for a probe, fishermen there said the boat weighed 18 tonnes and it was too much for the crane to lift. They also claimed that earlier in the morning a smaller crane was called in. When the crane tried to lift the boat the crane’s arm broke. Later the larger crane was brought in which tried to lift the boat, claimed the fishermen.
They claimed that the mistake was the crane operator’s as he had placed the crane in a North-South direction. If it was placed East-West the crane would not have been pulled into the sea, claimed the fishermen. They added that the crane operator jumped into the sea just when the crane was about to be pulled in and escaped with injuries.
After the incident two smaller cranes came in to recover the larger crane and the boat from the sea but could not pull them in. A large crane with the capacity to pull 80 tonnes of cargo was being brought in from Tuticorin harbour. The cost of the boat is Rs 20 lakh and cost of damages is Rs 5 lakh.