The two outgoing fishing vessels have sunk in the country's seawaters mainly technical faults led to their engines' failure, however, all the sailors were rescued, fishermen said on Thursday.
Some of the seafarers are said to be in a critical condition for they have suffered from water thrust while making efforts to float on the sea after their vessel Al-Zamzam submerged some 20 nautical miles off the Keti Bunder on late Tuesday evening.
The other fishing boat Safena-e-Mehir Ali with 13 crewmembers onboard sank at the mouth of Karachi Seaport's navigational channel after its propeller ceased by the floating solid trash and caused a burst to its engine on Wednesday morning, fishermen said.
The nearby voyaging boats reached the sinking boat and rescued the crewmembers all belonged to the Bhit Island, Keamari, they said, adding the wreckages of the boat could not so far been pulled out of the seabed, although the channel draft was not more than 12-feet deep.
They said that divers of Maritime Security Force (MSA), Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) are busy to bring out the boat's wreckages but none of them has so far succeeded. They said that the Al-Zamzam registered with Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) under which it was also from Bhit Island with sailors from Keti Bunder and Keamari had sunk on Tuesday evening after its sea valve collapsed due to which seawater ran into the boat and led it to go down.
"The nearby trawling boats immediately cruised to save the boat and its crewmembers after the skipper made an SOS call through VHF as the vessel took no time to disappear into seawater," they said. The vessel was on its voyage on deep-sea trawling about on a 20-day long trip beyond the country's territorial waters for netting fish and shrimp, they said.
Talking to Business Recorder, President Bona Fide Fishermen and Boat Owners Welfare Organisation, Asia Bhatt, said that sailors of both vessels have been rescued, however, three of them are in a critical conditions. He said the divers of MSA, PCG and KPT are involved in the operations at Karachi seaport channel to pull out the wreckages of the boat Safena-e-Mehir Ali but so far they could not succeed. He said the fishermen have also arranged private divers to make additional efforts in this regard.
About the submerged vessel, Al-Zamzam, he said that it has been out of their reach to pull out its wreckages from the seabed and neither the boat owner could make any efforts. He criticised that the untidiness of the country's prime seaport navigational channel, saying the issue is serious and urged the authorities to take measures for its cleaning.