Fishing boat catches fire mid-sea

Visakhapatnam: A mechanised boat was gutted while fishermen went fishing off the coast of Pudimadaka in the early hours on Sunday.

It is learnt that the engine of the boat caught fire mid-sea while the fishermen were onboard. The mechanised boat belonging to B Suryanarayana went up in flames when it was in the sea on Friday. When the fishermen were about to reach the shore on Sunday, the engine of the boat caught fire.

There were seven fishermen on the boat who tried to douse the fire but failed in doing so. They included G Yellaji, G Ramu, B Dhanaraju, R Yerrayya, Garikina Yellaji, P Veeraswamy and Ch Nallodu.

With no other choice left, they jumped into the sea to save themselves and managed to swim across to get into another boat close by. All of them reached the fishing harbour safely on Sunday.

Upon learning about the incident, Visakhapatnam south MLA Vamsi Krishna Srinivas Yadav, officials and police interacted with the fishermen.

Meanwhile, the fishermen association leaders demanded that the government should extend support to the fishermen for the property damage. The cost of the mechanised boat is estimated to be Rs 36 lakh.