Hummingbird News Desk
MIDNAPORE, 13 JUNE: Two hovercrafts and a Dornier surveillance aircraft of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) along with civil defence workers failed to trace the three fishermen who went missing after a trawler with 14 fishermen capsized in the Hooghly river on Saturday night killing one person, till today evening.
The trawler, Maa Karunamayee, was moored at Gangamela ghat on river Hooghly in Nandigram, capsized due to sudden high tide at around 11.30 pm. The crew members of the trawler had been shifting 14 barrels of diesel, each of 200-litre capacity, to fuel the trawler for a new season of hilsa fishing from 15 June.
“During the shifting of diesel-filled barrels, the trawler loosed the balance and capsized. Ten men on board jumped out and swam to safety. But trawler driver Pradip Manna, drowned. Three fishermen, Rupesh Khanra, Kashinath Sheeth and Bistupada Maity are missing since then,” Satish Maity, a fisherman said.
He also said, “Manna, was recovered soon after the incident. The body was then sent to Contai subdivisional hospital in East Midnapore on Sunday for a post mortem.”
According to a district administrative official, the fishermen, all of whom hailed from Marishda in Contai, had been making preparations to start fishing, particularly hilsa, starting Monday night.
“Every year, 15 June marks the yearly cessation of fishing restrictions that start in mid-April in order to allow various breeds of fish, particularly the hilsa, to spawn,” said a district official adding that though, the administration has warned them not to venture into the deep sea for fishing till the further announcement as the sea will be rough for depression coupled with high tide.
The fishermen didn’t pay any heed to the warning and started preparation to venture out for hilsa fishing, an official said.
The Haldia SDPO and Nandigram BDO Sumita Sengupta supervised the rescue operations at Kendemari Jalpai, on whose banks the Gangamela ghat is located.
Tags: #PURBAMEDINIPUR #TRAWLEROVERTURNED #HALDIRIVER #ONEDIED #Missing #accident
