KARACHI: Seven people were rescued while a search operation was underway to find four others missing after a merchant vessel hit a fishing boat off Manora Beach on Friday morning.

South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that seven people had been rescued, with four still missing, in the incident.

In a statement, an Edhi Foundation spokesperson said that their divers had continued the search operation during the day but it had to be halted once night fell.

He said the resuce operation would resume on Saturday morning.

DIG Raza detailed that the incident took place in a channel of the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at about 2am, when a civil fishing boat named Al-Shahbaz was hit by merchant vessel Kang Huan.

“All fishermen on the boat jumped into the sea, and the fishing boat toppled down,” the police officer added. Subsequently, rescue operations were initiated by HPO, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and the KPT.

“Seven persons were rescued by another fishing boat,” DIG Raza said, adding that four were still missing.

“The recovered fishermen were taken to the hospital via Edhi ambulance from Keamari Jetty,” the DIG said.

In its statement, the Edhi service had said: “A boat capsized at Manora Beach and multiple people sank, of which six people were recovered alive with the aid of Edhi’s marine aid team.”

A week ago, a boat carrying eight residents of Karachi capsized in the open sea near Keti Bandar. The incident left one person dead and another missing, while six others were rescued by local fishermen.

In September, a fisherman drowned and three survived when their boat capsized near Port Qasim due to strong winds.