2 fishing boats sink near Mumbai, 15 fisherman swim 4km to get rescued

On Sunday, two fishing boats carrying 15 men drowned around 70 nautical miles (130 km) north of Mumbai, The boats, Himsagar and Krishna Sagar, reportedly sank seven nautical miles from Umargam, Gujarat around midnight on Sunday.

According to Palghar district’s Talasari taluka tehsildar Vishal Daundkar, the fisherman had set out in two fishing boats from Zai and Gholvad villages. Late in the night, the district authorities received a message informing them about the trouble, following which the Coast and Navy were alerted.

Upon receiving the alert, Indian Navy immediately dispatched a helicopter for rescue operations. “A Seaking 42B, all weather helicopter has been launched to search for survivors. All fishermen were picked up by other fishermen in the area. Ships going back to their respective tasks,” said the defence spokesperson. The Naval and ICG Ships returned back to their duties after completing the rescue operation.

The incident occurred when the bottom of one of the boats got damaged and water started seeping into the engine room. When the fisherman onboard the other boat noticed the first boat sinking, they tried to rescue it. However, the second boat also got damaged in the process when the two collided mid-sea. Both boats sunk within minutes.

As a result, all 15 fishermen jumped out of the sinking boats and swam to the shore at Vrindavan in Umbargaon village around 4 am. They reportedly swam almost four kilometers using buoys before reaching safety. A local boat, who noticed the fisherman swimming towards the shore, also came to their rescue.

The rescued fishermen are Dattu Shingda, Babu Vanga, Sanjay Hadal, Sandip Umbarsade, Ladke Valva, Govind Machchi, Suraj Machchi, Pritam Machchi, Vasant Sambar, Vasta Rajad, Nawaz Pujara, Vipul Machchi, Deu Varta, Lakshi Vanjara and Pravesh Vajas.

All of them were admitted to a government hospital at Umbergaon for dehydration and consumption of sea water. They will be discharged today.