NAGAPATTINAM: A deep-sea fishing vessel from the district on Thursday night submerged in the sea off Kochi in Kerala after hitting a wrecked boat that sank years ago. The crew members were, however, rescued in the nick of time.
According to sources, the gillnetter-longliner boat owned by S Aiyyappan (50) of Nagore in Nagapattinam district, was operating out of the Cochin fishing harbour in Kerala for the past one week. Leaving the harbour around 8.30 pm on Thursday, the boat was heading towards the seafront of the Arabian Sea an hour later when it hit the wrecked boat that had sunk about three nautical miles off the coast.
"All the men on board were rescued. They are safe and sound. The condition of the boat is not as fortunate," said an official from the Fisheries department in Nagapattinam.
Of the fishermen on board, A Jayaraman (21), P Sathiyaraj (35), S Kuttiyandi (45), B Babu (41), B Hariharan (20), K Vignesh (22), T Ashok (36), B Sivabalan (30) and B Ismail (20) were residents of Nagore. There was also fisherman S Praveen (24) from Nambiar Nagar in Nagapattinam district and M Rajendran (35) of Chennai.
B Babu, the boat's pilot who told TNIE that it was their maiden trip to the Arabian Sea, added, "The water gushed inside the boat rapidly through the gash in the hull. We sensed danger as we tried to drain the water, only to realise the boat had already begun to sink quickly. Thankfully, we were pulled onboard into the boats that came behind us."
The boat, built in Nagapattinam at a cost of Rs 80 lakh, also contained fishing equipment worth thousands of rupees.
Officials stated that salvaging the boat is highly improbable. Boat owner S Aiyyappan said, "We sent our men to fish in the western side (Arabian Sea) as the eastern waters (Bay of Bengal) is getting rougher due to monsoon. We request help from the district administration of Nagapattinam and Ernakulum (Kerala) to salvage the vessel and help with compensation.” An official from Nagapattinam said the administration is communicating with the Ernakulum administration in this regard.