Two fishermen die, others critical after inhaling gases from fish offal

. Around 11 am, two of them began to get short of breath due to the stench of the rotting fish offal. Identified as Seena Yadav, 34 and N Rangaswamy, 28, the two later passed away due to suffocation

MUMBAI: Two fishermen died and four others were left battling for life after all of them were exposed to gases produced by fish offal. The Yellow Gate police have registered a case of accidental death.

Several peoplefrom the locality were gathered in one corner of JJ Hospital, where the families of the victims sat waiting for the bodies to be handed over.

According to fellow fishermen and neighbours of the deceased from Bhaucha Dhakka, the fishing boat named Anjani Putra went out to sea 12 days ago. It docked at the new fish jetty in the middle of the night, and several workers from the fishing community residing at Solapur Street in Dana Bandar went to unload the fish. Around 11 am, two of them began to get short of breath due to the stench of the rotting fish offal. Identified as Seena Yadav, 34 and N Rangaswamy, 28, the two later passed away due to suffocation.

“The fish brought from the sea is collected in special storage units below the deck, which are iced properly to ensure that the fish remains fresh,” explained Arman Kalu, a fishing net supplier who also lives around Bhaucha Dhakka. “In one of the units, very small fish, offal and other such things are collected, as they are used to make pesticides. This unit perhaps was not iced well, which caused the offal to rot and produce harmful gases.”

Officials from the Yellow Gate police said that when the first two men who had gone to unload the offal were struggling to get out of the underdeck unit, others went in to rescue them. “Four more people went in, one by one, to save the others,” said an officer. “All of them were exposed to the poisonous gases. While two of the men died before they could reach JJ Hospital, the other four are still fighting for their lives.” The other injured were identified as Suresh Mekla, Pampapati Yadav, Guruswamy Yadav and Suresh Yadav.

Aswathappa, one of the workers who went in later to save the injured men, said that he could see it was getting increasingly difficult to breathe in the offal unit. “Our priority was to get all the workers out of there and get them medical help at the earliest,” he said.

Several women from the locality were gathered in one corner of JJ Hospital, where the families of the victims sat waiting for the bodies to be handed over. Vajamma, cousin of the injured Mekla, said that the two deceased workers, Rangaswamy and Seena Yadav, both had young children. “Besides, Rangaswamy’s wife, who is in their native village, is pregnant,” she said.

Vajamma was constantly by the bedside of her cousin, who was on a ventilator. “I am worried about him,” she said. “He is in a critical state but there are no vacant ICU beds in the hospital. His wife is four months’ pregnant too, so we have not informed her about his condition.”