8 Missing Fishermen Found Alive

Non-seaworthy boats

Non-seaworthy boats



Non-seaworthy boats
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the eight fishermen who were reported missing after the boat in which they were travelling sank within the Elmina-Cape Coast waters last Tuesday, have been found alive.

The eight were among about 20 fishermen on board the vessel christened, ‘The Truth No.1’ with registration number GR 035 TM which was travelling from Sekondi to Tema for routine maintenance.

According to sources, when the vessel sank, 12 out of the 20 fishermen on board were lucky to have been rescued by a team that was dispatched in another vessel to the location immediately after the tragedy.

The other eight were not immediately found and were feared dead.

Emmanuel Botwey, secretary to the Sekondi branch of the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association (GIFA) in an interview with DAILY GUIDE confirmed that indeed the eight missing fishermen have been found.

He indicated that the eight were found on Tuesday evening by a canoe fisherman who was also on a fishing expedition.

He added that the Good Samaritan took his missing colleagues to his house at a village called Emuna in the Central Region and fed them. He aided the eight fishermen to join their respective families the next morning.

He indicated that his outfit had a call last Tuesday morning that the vessel that moved from Sekondi and was bound for Tema last Monday had sunk in the Elmina-Cape Coast waters.

He disclosed that immediately, a team was dispatched in another vessel to the location and 12 out of the 20 were rescued.

He bemoaned the fact that most of the boats at the Bosumtwe Fishing Harbour in Sekondi were not seaworthy and because of that the fishermen needed to do regular maintenance on their vessels to prevent them from sinking.

Mr. Botwey indicated that a few days ago, some fishermen had to return to the fishing harbour minutes after setting off for a fishing expedition, because they realised that their boat was sinking.

He was also not happy that the country’s two major dry docks in Tema and Sekondi were being operated by private people, adding that it was very expensive for the local fishermen to engage the services of the private company to maintain their vessels.

He revealed that the minimum price the fishermen had to pay for the routine maintenance of their fishing boats was GH¢5,000.

He therefore appealed to the government to give the operations of the dry docks to the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association since the association is a major stakeholder in the industry.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
 
 
 

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