Three fishermen missing after boat capsizes in Raigad

Eight fishermen set out to sea in the boat, and five of them managed to reach the shore, said a police officer.

Navi Mumbai: Three fishermen from Uran went missing on Saturday after their boat capsized in the Arabian Sea near Khanderi Fort off the Raigad coast due to strong waves. Eight fishermen set out to sea in the boat, and five of them managed to reach the shore, said a police officer.

Three fishermen missing after boat capsizes in Raigad

According to the police, the incident occurred at 7 am on Saturday when eight fishermen allegedly set out to sea in a boat for fishing from Karanjade port in Uran, despite a state-wide fishing ban having been imposed till August 31 due to the monsoon. The boat encountered strong waves at six nautical miles off the coast while returning and overturned, the officer said.

Five of the eight fishermen managed to swim to the shore with the help of plastic water bottles and tubes as makeshift flotation aids while three of them remain untraced, said Assistant Police Inspector Somnath Lande of Mandva Coastal police.

The police have identified the missing fishermen as Naresh Ram Shelar, Dheeraj Koli, and Mukesh Yashwant Patil.

A rescue operation is being carried out by the Raigad Police, Indian Coast Guard, and local fishermen to trace the missing fishermen. Drones are being used to scan the coastline, but adverse weather and rough seas are hindering search efforts, the officials said.

The five men who could reach the shore have been identified as Hemant Baliram Gawand, 45, Sandeep Tukaram Koli, 38, and Roshan Bhagwan Koli, 39, from Uran, and Shankar Hira Bhoir, 64, and Krishna Ram Bhoir, 55, from Panvel.

In a separate incident on the same day, a boat with 10 fishermen capsized near Mora Jetty in Navi Mumbai. While nine of them managed to swim to the shore, one fisherman, identified as Suresh Vishwanath Gautam, 22, had drowned, according to the police.