• Search operation to trace remaining fishermen continues
• Four of 14 victims laid to rest in Ibrahim Hyderi

KARACHI: Bodies of six more fishermen, who were among 14 drowned in sea after their boat capsized near Thatta last week, were recovered on Monday, officials said.

On March 4, 45 fishermen belonging to Ibrahim Hyderi had gone fishing on their boat that capsized at Hajmbro Creek near Keti Bandar on March 5 at around 3am due to bad weather. As many as 31 of them were rescued, but there was no trace of 14 missing fishermen.

On Sunday, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) had found four bodies at sea.

On Monday, the Pakistan Navy announced that six more bodies were recovered in a joint search operation.

“PN in coordination with PMSA recovered 10 dead bodies out of 14 missing fisherman of boat Al-Assad in a joint search and rescue operation,” said a press release issued by the navy’s directorate general of public relations.

“The recovered bodies have been handed over to concerned civil authorities for further formalities,” it added.

“A search and rescue operation was started on March 5 in open sea. Despite dense marine traffic in the vicinity of the accident, time lapse and choppy sea conditions the dead bodies of 10 missing fishermen were successfully recovered today,” it added.

It said that the search operation involved multiple assets of the navy and PMSA including aircraft, helicopters, ships and speedboats.

The officials said that the search operation was still underway to recover bodies of four remaining victims of boat capsize incident.

“Conduct of continuous search and rescue operation by PN and PMSA is a manifestation of navy’s resolve to assist in every civil calamity at sea,” the press release concluded.

Four victims laid to rest

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) said that the authorities handed over four bodies recovered on Sunday in sea to their relatives on Monday.

They were laid to rest in Ibrahim Hyderi, PFF-Karachi president Majeed Motani told Dawn.

He said that the authorities also recovered six more bodies, which would be brought to an Edhi morgue in Korangi on Tuesday (today) for burial.

He said that efforts were underway by the navy to recover four missing bodies.

Fourth incident at same creek

Mr Motani said that it was the fourth boat that capsized in the same Hajmbro Creek near Keti Bunder.

He said that all affected fishermen were rescued in the first two incidents. However, one fisherman drowned in the third incident, he added.

The PFF official said that the latest incident resulted in the loss of many precious lives because their boat capsized very late in the night due to which a rescue operation could not be launched immediately.

He said that because of climate change, high tidal waves or storms tended to take place in that particular creek, resulting in tragedies.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024