When the boat they were aboard caught fire Tuesday at Dhamara in Bhadrak, as many as 10 fisherman came dangerously close to dying.
Sources claim that the fishermen were fishing in deep waters when the accident occurred. Due to the accident, the boat has been totally destroyed and converted to ashes.
They were saved by fishermen from another boat. Upon learning of it, the Coast Guard and Marine Police arrived to the scene and returned the people to the bank. While the specific cause of the fire is still unknown, it is believed that the explosion was caused by the motor inside the boat.
On September 28, a fisherman lost his life in a recent occurrence of a similar nature that occurred close to the testing area of the Defense Research and Development Organization in Balasore’s Chandipur. The dead, identified as Kamalakanta Majhi, the boat’s owner, was killed after he was struck by a piece of stray shrapnel. The same accident had also injured another fisherman. According to accounts, seven fishermen went fishing in the sea close to Chandipur. After some time, though, the boat veered into a restricted region of the DRDO testing range where the defence company was testing ammunition. After receiving shrapnel wounds, Majhi and his companion were transported to the Balasore District Headquarters Hospital, where physicians pronounced Majhi dead.
Close shave for 10 fishermen as fishing boat catches fire near Wheeler Island
