KARACHI, Aug 4: Sixteen out of 17 fishermen from Karachi are feared to have drowned after their fishing trawler capsized in the deep-sea, 19 nautical miles off Sonmiani in Balochistan.

Their boat had left piers at the Fisheries.

The body of one fisherman, identified as Pervez, has been retrieved.

“A fishing trawler, carrying 17 fishermen, capsized in the deep-sea,” an assistant district administrative officer, Levies-IV, Hub, Shahid Saleem told Dawn over telephone from Winder.

The only survivor, who identified himself as Mumtaz Magsi, resident of Millat Town in Malir, Karachi, told the Levies that the boat’s hull might have struck a rock in the sea, and then capsized due to inclement weather.

Mr Saleem said: “We came to know about the incident after Mumtaz managed to reach the Winder beach near Sonmiani on Monday morning after having struggled to reach the shore for five days.”

Mr Mumtaz told Dawn that five of his colleagues had also tried to swim to the shore, but did not survive.

“I stayed afloat with the help of a piece of the trawler’s debris,” he said.