1 dead, 1 missing as fishing boat capsizes off Versova

Mumbai: One fisherman drowned while another swam to safety after their fishing boat capsized in the sea around three kilometres off the Versova shore on Saturday evening.

While the survivor Vijay Bamania, 35, swam for hours to reach the shore late that night, the body of Vinod Goel, 45, was found at Silver Beach, Versova, on Sunday morning. The search for the third fisherman, Usmani Bhandari, 22, who is suspected to have drowned, is under way.

According to the Versova police, the incident took place on Saturday evening when four fishing boats from Versova village set out into the sea. Each boat had three men. “Sensing a high tide and strong wind, three of the four boats returned to the shore,” said Ganesh Pawar, senior police inspector at Versova police station. “After reaching the shore, they realised that one boat was missing. One of the fishermen on it, Vijay Bamania, swam to the Madh Island coast and informed us later about the capsizing of his boat.”

On receiving the alert, the police immediately informed the fire brigade, the Coast Guard and other agencies and launched a search operation for the two missing fishermen.

The police said that Bamania had been admitted to hospital, as he was suffering from fatigue. “On Sunday morning, Goel’s body was washed ashore at Silver Beach in Versova,” said Pawar. “We are in the process of registering a case of accidental death and are in the midst of finding out more about the accident from Bamania.”

The search operation for Bhandari was conducted by firemen and lifeguards using a ring buoy and ropes along with fishing boats. Indian Navy and helicopters were also deployed to trace the missing fishermen. The search operation was stopped at 1 pm on Sunday on account of high tide and resumed again by 2.30 pm.

Santosh Sawant, deputy Chief Fire Officer, Zone 1, told HT, “From 1 pm to 2.30 pm on Sunday, the Mumbai fire brigade was making inquiries, but it was high tide and the police prevented us from carrying out search operations. We then called divers. The Navy was called and a search operation began through helicopters. In the evening we recovered one body.”