In Gir Somnath, 15 fishing boats capsize; 8 fishermen are missing

On Thursday, at least 15 fishing boats capsized in the middle of the sea off Gir Somnath Nava Bandar port in Gujarat owing to heavy winds. Four of the 15 fisherman onboard have been rescued, while the remaining 11 are believed to have drowned. The search for the missing fisherman is currently continuing.

The weather has issued a three-day warning for fisherman not to venture out into the sea owing to the weather conditions. On December 1 and 2, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy and widespread rain in Gujarat and the North Konkan.

A fresh active western disturbance as a trough in mid-latitude westerlies is likely to affect northwest and adjoining central India from Tuesday night and its interaction with a lower-level trough in easterlies winds. Under their influence, widespread rain/thunderstorm with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Gujarat on Wednesday and isolated heavy rainfall on Thursday," the IMD had warned.

Una taluka's mamlatdar (revenue officer) R R Khambhra informed PTI that a rescue mission was initiated early Thursday morning with the help of a Coast Guard helicopter to identify the eight missing fishermen.

Due to the bad weather, at least 10 boats were completely destroyed, while 40 others tied off the coast were partially damaged, according to locals.

"The sea conditions turned rough after midnight in Navabandar village due to the strong winds and sea waves. Initially 12 fishermen were untraceable, but four of them managed to swim back to the shore, while eight are still missing. We have started a rescue operation with the help of a helicopter sent by the Coast Guard," Khambhra said.

The fishermen were sleeping inside their anchored boats around midnight when heavy gusts and waves hit the coast due to a sudden shift in the weather, according to Navabandar sarpanch (village head) Somvar Majithia. On Wednesday, the weather in Gujarat changed, with rain falling in several parts of the state, which is rare for the month of December.

A catastrophic accident between two cargo ships, the MVs Aviator and Atlantic Grace, occurred last week in Gujarat's Gulf of Kutch, resulting in an oil slick in the Arabian Sea. The accident between the two bulk cargo ships occurred off the coast of Gujarat on November 26. It did not, however, result in any casualties. Meanwhile, ships from the Indian Coast Guard and pollution control vessels have been placed on alert.