Strong winds and huge waves damaged ‘Jay Sagarika’, the biggest fishing ship in the coastal belt of Palghar district, causing it to sink at 6.30 pm on January 2, 45 to 50 nautical miles (85 to 90 km) from the coast. No life was lost in the incident.
The 13 fishermen on board struggled to survive in the deep waters with the help of plastic drums and other material. A call by the captain of the ship to the crew of other ships in the area led to the fishermen finally being rescued.
‘Jay Sagarika’, which had started its fishing trip on December 25 from Murbe, adjacent to Satpati, was built in 2008 with fibre material, which had been just introduced then. Fibre material was first used for fishing ships in Veraval and Mangrol fishing towns in Gujarat and was replicated in the twin fishing villages of Satpati and Murbe. The use of fibre reduces the weight of the ship and the material is not as easily corroded by saline water.
The ship, owned by Pragati Pravin Tare, sank carrying with it 96 dubang nets, which are used to catch Surmai and Koat, 86 mono nets used to catch Pomfret, diesel, tons of ice, wireless equipment, and GPS and navigation equipment worth lakhs of rupees.
