Rs 25 crore loss: 45 fishing boats gutted in fire at Vizag fishing harbour

VISAKHAPATNAM: At least 45 mechanised fishing boats were reduced to ashes in a huge fire, which started around midnight on Sunday in the jetty area of Visakhapatnam fishing harbour where the boats were anchored. No loss of life is been reported in what is said to be one of the worst fires in a fishing harbour in recent memory, but the property loss is estimated to be several crores.

While some boat owners said the fire started in one of the boats where a party was being held, others said there after a fight between two groups of fishermen over the sale of a boat, and one of the groups set fire to the vessel.There are also talks that rivals of a YouTuber, who owns two fishing boats and often shares videos of deep sea fishing on his social media channels, set fire to one of his boats over a monetary dispute.
Vizag police commissioner A Ravi Shankar said some people were partying in one of the boats on Sunday night and it is suspected that the fire started from there. "When locals spotted the fire in one of the boats around midnight, they immediately cut the anchor to let it drift into the sea to prevent the fire from spreading to other boats. However, as it was a windy night, the boat drifted to another side of the jetty where several fibre boats were anchored which caused the fire to spread rapidly," he said.
Many boats had huge stocks of diesel and LPG cylinders as fishermen often cook in the boat when in the seas. Ravi Shankar said, "Some cylinders also exploded, which further fuelled the blaze. Even the fishing nets are highly flammable. By the time fire tenders reach the spot, the fire had spread to other boats."
Boat owner says many vessels had stocked 5k litres of diesel
He added, "Each fishing boat costs somewhere between 15 to Rs 20 lakh, and there were other items like fishing nets, plastic containers, fuel, stoves, LPG cylinders, etc. The estimated loss would be several crores. Thankfully, there was no loss of life."
Besides losing their only source of livelihood for several weeks, it would further be a double blow for the fisherfolk as most of the boats were not insured. Satyanarayana Surada, general secretary of Dolphin boat operators' welfare association, said normally very few people stay at the fishing harbour between 8 pm and 2 am. "The boats start moving into the sea at around 3 am. As the incident took place after 11 pm, no one has a clear idea about what exactly happened. The loss could be over 25 crore as the fire gutted not only the boats but also diesel and fishing gear. Some boats also had stocks of fish and prawns," he said.
About 12 fire tenders were pressed into service, besides NDRF, personnel from the Navy, Coast Guard, and Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA). The fire was doused by around 5 am on Monday, but by then most boats were reduced to ashes. Ravi Shankar said they have formed a special team with officials from the fire services, fisheries, police, and other allied departments to investigate the cause of the fire. "It would be premature to give any comments or blame someone now. We are trying to establish the exact time of the fire and how many people were there in the boat at the time of the incident. We have identified some suspects, we are questioning a youngster whose boat too was gutted in the fire. however it may take some time to conclude, the police chief added.
D Polaiah, who lost his boat in the fire, said many boats had stocked 4,000 to 5,000 litres of diesel as they were supposed to venture into the seas for fishing on Monday morning. "Some of the boats had return on Sunday evening with the catch (fish and prawn) which were to be offloaded on Monday morning. The boats were also laden with LPG cylinders which we use for cooking. The diesel and the gas cylinders, some of which exploded, made the fire spread fast. We managed to mitigate the damage by de-anchoring some of the boats, otherwise nearly 100 boats could have been gutted down," he added.
Joint director of fisheries department, G Vijaya, said 36 boats were completely gutted while nine boats were partially burnt in the fire. The estimated loss could be around 20 crore," she said.
Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has expressed shock over the incident and ordered an inquiry. Fisheries minister S Appala Raju, Visakha South MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, and other leaders visited the site and assured that the government will financially support the fishermen who lost their boats in the mishap.