Maha fisherman killed in firing by PMSA off Guj coast

Rajkot: A fisherman was killed and another was injured in mid-sea firing by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) at a boat on Saturday afternoon.

A murder case was registered against 10 unidentified persons

, dressed in blue clothes and travelling in two boats, at Navi Bandar Marine police station on Sunday.

According to police, around 4 pm on November 6 an Indian fishing boat named 'Jalpari' was fired upon about 12 nautical miles off the Okha coast in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

A fisherman named Shridhar Chamre (32), a resident of Palgharh in Maharashtra, died while Dilip Solanki, who lives in Diu, suffered injuries. Solanki had a lucky escape as a bullet brushed past his face.

After the incident, the boat returned to Okha in the early hours of Sunday and Chamre’s body was sent to Jamnagar for postmortem by a panel of doctors. Solanki too is undergoing treatment for the injury on his face. Police said that the boat has also suffered damages in the firing.

The boat owned by Jayanti Rathod had set sail with seven fishermen on board on October 25.

Meanwhile, another fishing boat from Porbandar was taken into custody by Pakistan on the same day. Former president of Marine Fisheries Cooperative Manish Lodhari said that the boat along with six fishermen on board were taken into custody and taken to Karachi. He added that so far 1,130 boats have been taken away by Pakistan and 345 fishermen are still languishing in Pakistani jails.

Seven fishermen rescued by ICG

Seven fishermen were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) after their boat caught fire mid-sea on Sunday. The boat named ‘Kushal Raj’ got engulfed in fire due to fuel leakage from its engine. An ICG ship ‘Arush’ which was patrolling in the Arabian Sea rushed to the help and even engaged in fire-fighting, but as the fire had engulfed the entire boat, it sank. The seven fishermen on board the boat were rescued and brought to Okha by ICG.