Andhra Pradesh   

Two feared killed in fire on fishing boat near Vizag

Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM: Two crew members were feared dead and four others received severe burns when a fire broke out in a mechanised fishing boat off Visakhapatnam coast late on Thursday night.

The incident shocked the fishing community, which resumed fishing by mechanised boats on Wednesday midnight after a 45-day ban observed to conserve marine wealth.

Thursday's tragedy followed the death of two fishermen, nearby Gangavaram on Wednesday while shifting their boats as part of the rehabilitation programme to facilitate construction of a private port.

The mechanised fishing boat left the fishing harbour here on Thursday evening on a three-day voyage and the accident happened around 9 p.m.

One of the victims, Bade Narasimhulu, 24, who is receiving treatment in the Burns Ward of the King George Hospital here, said a leak in the kerosene stove, on which another crew member Ganagalla Tavitayya, 24, was cooking food caused the fire. The burning oil fell on some diesel oil cans kept nearby and the fire reached the boat's diesel tank in no time.

``There was a big bang as the tank exploded. Tavitayya and Surni Sanyasi (50) who is near the push hole (to push ice into the fish storage compartment) were near to the tank. Fire spread towards us (Narasimhulu, and three others — Ganagalla China Ammoru, Ganagalla Ammoru and Kokkiri Jagannadham) when we were sorting the fish catch in the rear side of the boat. We received burns and immediately jumped into the water. Among the injured, Jagannadham of Jalaripeta in the old city area was in a critical state having received nearly 100 per cent burns. Ammoru received about 50 per cent burns and is also in a critical condition.

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