Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Aug 19 (IANS): In a Raksha Bandhan day tragedy, three fishermen drowned while another managed to swim ashore after their fishing vessel took on water and sank in the Arabian Sea off the Sarjekot village in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district early on Monday, police said.
According to police official Sushant V. Puralkar of the Achara Police Station, the boat had sailed for a regular fishing voyage in the deep seas on Sunday afternoon and was scheduled to return for the auspicious Nariyali Poornima and Raksha Bandhan celebrations on Monday.
"Around 2 a.m., the boat suddenly started leaking, taking on a lot of water and started tilting, forcing the four sailors, including the owner, to abandon it and jump into the sea," Puralkar told IANS.
The sole survivor, Vijay A. Dhurat, 52, had to swim for several hours before reaching Sarjekot village around 7 a.m. and alerting the locals and Achara Police about the disaster on the high seas.
The Achara Police Station's Inspector Pradeep Powar informed the higher authorities, and along with the locals like Sarpanch Jerome Fernandes, Gram Panchayat Member Muzaffar Mujawar, other fisherfolk and police officials, launched a maritime and terrestrial search operation for the victims.
After a few hours into the operation, the teams managed to recover the bodies of the deceased trio from the Vayangani and Saplebaug hamlets along the coast and shifted them to a government hospital.
The boat owner was identified as Gangaram J. Adkar, 64, a retired schoolteacher and the Vice-President of Sarjekot Fishermen Association, and the other two deceased were Laxman S. Surve, 65 and Prasad B. Surve, 33, both from the nearby Hadi-Jatharwadi village, said the police official.
Their bodies have been sent to the Masure Civil Hospital for autopsies and will be handed over to their families for performing the last rites later, said Puralkar.
The sole survivor Dhurat is admitted to the Achara Primary Health Centre for treatment and the police will record his statement later on the probable causes of the festival day accident that plunged Sarjekot and Hari-Jatharwadi villages into sorrow.