The Hindu Business Line : Fishing trawler capsizes off Haldia; 12 missing

A FISHING trawler, belonging to a Chennai-based company and operating from here, capsized in the sand heads area of the Bay of Bengal, about 70 to 80 nautical miles south of Haldia around midnight on Thursday.

According to reports received here, 12 out of the 13 crew members were missing while one was picked up by another fishing vessel hours after the accident.

The Coast Guard with one of its ship and two helicopters, a vessel belonging to the Reliance company and 20 fishing trawlers were conducting a search and rescue operation, according to information received from the DIG of the Coast Guard, Mr D.B.S. Prasad, on Friday afternoon.

The sea was rough and the visibility was poor, it was reported.

The trawler, M.F.V. Sarani, owned by the Chennai-based Saravanan Marine Products Pvt Ltd, was operating from here. It left here on August 9 for fishing in the sea off the Orissa coast and dropped anchor on Thursday. Around 11.30 p.m. or midnight there was a big storm with winds of high velocity leading to the capsize of the vessel. The news about the accident was conveyed by Pari to the trawlers in the Paradip port, who in turn informed the Managing Director of the company, Mr C. Kumar.

All the 13 members of the crew are natives of Tamil Nadu.

The missing crew members are the skipper of the vessel, Mr Esqueline Vincent; the Chief Engineer, Mr V. Selvaraj, bosun, Mr N. Previn, Second Engineer, Mr A. Antony Dhas, oil man, Mr M. Bosco, deckhands, Mr J. Kumar, Mr D. Nazerane, Mr R. Cruz, Mr A. Arulprasanna, Mr J. Joseph and Mr R. Dojo, and the cook, Mr K.J. Vargeesh.