KARACHI, May 14: Fifteen of the 18 crewmembers of a fishing boat, Safina-i-Adil, which capsized 14 nautical miles off Gwadar on May 12, have been rescued, while search of the other three is under way. This was stated by Maritime Security Agency (MSA) in a release on Saturday. It said that MSA aircraft were conducting the search for the missing ones.

According to the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), 13 of the survivors, including the boat’s captain (Naa Khuda), Ameer Hussain, arrived at Karachi Fish Harbour from Jivani aboard another boat.

The survivors were still in a state of shock, the FCS said, adding that two of the 15 survivors, Momin Khan and Tauheedul Islam, were under treatment at a hospital in Jivani. It identified two of the missing fishermen as Khan Bachan, Noor Alam.

Ameer Hussain narrated the whole ordeal to newsmen.

“Everybody onboard was crying for help when the boat started sinking. Fortunately, our screams attracted attention of the crew of some launches who rushed to rescue us.

“It was the crew of the boat Rab Razi which rescued and shifted us to an Iranian ship Abdullah, which transported us to the coastal village of Pushkan.

“We were then transferred to a Pakistani boat in which we travelled to Karachi,” Hussain said.

The rescued fishermen were Noorul Husain, Aziz, Jawed, Ameer Hussain, Saeed Khan, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Ehsan, Malik, M. Gyasuddin, Abid Ali, Anwar Hussain, Imam Bux and Mohammad Latif.

Shujaat Ali Qarni of the FCS has announced a reward of Rs50,000 for the crew of Rab Razi.—APP