Seven fishermen narrowly escaped death after their boat capsized near the Fishing Harbour off the Visakhapatnam coast on Thursday (July 16, 2026) morning during a fishing expedition.
The boat overturned in strong currents while the crew was casting nets, amid rough seas under the influence of the well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal along the Odisha coast. The waves wedged the boat between tetrapods, trapping the fishermen beneath it.
A fishing boat capsizes and slams into tetrapods off the Visakhapatnam coast on Thursday morning, pinning it against the breakwater. All seven fishermen aboard were rescued; two of them hurt.
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The crew held on to the wreckage and survived, but two fishermen, Tatarao and Akash, were severely injured. They were taken to the King George Hospital (KGH), where they are undergoing treatment.
The capsize has dealt the crew a heavy financial blow, with the boat, valued at over ₹2.5 lakh, and nets worth ₹2 lakh destroyed, the fishermen said. The survivors have appealed to the State government for immediate financial assistance.
Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha spoke to the Visakhapatnam district Collector, the City Police Commissioner and fisheries officials over the phone about the accident, and directed them to ensure the best medical care for the injured fishermen. She also asked the officials to educate fishermen on safety standards, and said the government would stand by the fishing community.
The capsize comes less than a fortnight after six fishermen were lost when the mechanised fishing vessel IND-AP-MM-V5-83, carrying seven of them, capsized about 10 nautical miles off the Gangavaram coast on July 4. The boat’s engine failed in heavy seas and a massive wave flipped it; the lone survivor, boat owner Kari Chinna, drifted for hours before a passing cargo ship spotted him.
After a 72-hour multi-agency search by the Coast Guard and the Navy was called off, a three-member committee concluded that the six were presumed dead. The State government, invoking G.O. 54 to bypass the seven-year wait under the Indian Evidence Act, issued expedited certification and paid ₹10 lakh each to the families.
The deaths renewed demands from fishermen’s organisations for satellite communication terminals, emergency beacons and other safety equipment on the State’s fishing vessels, which mostly lack them.
Published - July 16, 2026 11:16 am IST