Three fishermen were charred to death and seven others sustained critical burn injuries in a fire in a fishing vessel on Saturday night in the Bay of Bengal, about 55-60 nautical miles, from Paradip.
This was an accidental fire that broke out from the battery in the trawler's engine room due to electric short circuit.According to Coast Guard sources, the Paradip-based vessel Maa Durga carrying 10 fishermen had gone to catch fish since couple of days. While they were returning from the sea, the fire broke out at the Puri coast. The trawler was owned by Deepak Mohapatra of Baleswar.
Four injured fishermen jumped to the water to save their lives whereas the six others failed to come out of the trawler. The four fishermen were later rescued by the crew of another trawler who were fishing near the ill-fated vessel. The rescued fishermen pressed alarm button to the Coast Guard of Paradip to save the six others from the burning trawler.
Coast Guard ship Rajkiran went to the spot and started rescue operation. The Coast Guard personnel rescued the bodies of three fishermen along with the three other injured ones from the trawler. The Coast Guard personnel with the help of firefighters tried to extinguish the fire in the trawler. They provided first aid and medicines to the injured and towed the damaged vessel in rough sea to Paradip. later, the rescued alive fishermen and the bodies were transferred to the Paradip Port pilot boat Surrender Sai. The Coast Guard ship handed over the damaged trawler to another vessel for towing it to the Paradip fishing harbour.
The injured persons were rushed to the Paradip Port Trust hospital on early Sunday. later, the two seriously injured fishermen were shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack. Most of the ill-fated fishermen were Bengalis belonging to the Bahabalpur Kasafala area of Baleswar district. The deceased were identified as Gopal Haldar and Balaram Bardhan from Baleswar and Mahadeb Behera of Paradip.