THOOTHUKUDI: A fisherman drowned after an overloaded country boat of the Manapad fishing hamlet toppled in choppy sea late on Wednesday. Ten other fishermen on the boat were rescued.
The deceased fisherman was S Walter (22) of Tsunami Colony in Manapad. His body was fished out from the sea on Thursday evening, a day later.
Sources said the 11 fishermen had set sail for fishing in a fibre boat on Wednesday. The accident occurred one nautical mile from the shore as they were returning to the Manapad fish landing centre with a heavy load of catch after dusk the same day.
As the sea was violent and windy, the fishermen sought help from other fishermen to reduce the load, sources said. However, the boat toppled near the groyne, even before the fishermen in another boat could reach them.
The fishermen who set out for help rescued the 10 fishermen, but Walter was missing. A fisheries department official said over 30 fishing boats were deployed for his search.
A country fibre boat has the capacity to take only four or five fishermen, but over 11 fishermen were on the craft that toppled. They didn’t carry the necessary safety gear, said sources.
