under the humidity Visakhapatnam The sky, the fishing port, a roaring trade centre, has been transformed into a theater of mourning. The usual hubbub among fishermen about live catches has disappeared, while community members crying for their missing family members have become a common sight over the past week.
Under the tin roofs of the Mechanized Boat Owners Association building, women clad in faded cotton sarees gaze out at the gray horizon of the Bay of Bengal. There are no tears left, only a hollow, exhausted silence.
On Saturday (July 4, 2026), the mechanized fishing vessel IND-AP-MM-V5-83, carrying seven fishermen, capsized just 10 nautical miles off the Gangavaram coast in Visakhapatnam. six out of seven The fishermen who went into the sea to catch fish are presumed dead..
Kari Chinna, the sole survivor and boat owner, says, “I survived, but I don’t know how. I saw my brother, nephew and other family members disappearing one by one before my eyes. We kept swimming, hoping that someone would save us, but there was no one.”
Also read: Search for missing fishermen called off; Three-member panel submits report to AP government
Chinna describes the brutal 18-hour battle for survival in the harsh conditions of the ocean. As he recovered from severe exposure and salt water aspiration at KIMS ICON hospital in Gajuwaka, Visakhapatnam, families at the ghat mourned for the six missing – R. Bandiya, 43, Meda Chinna Ammoru, 48, Kari Chinnayya, 32, Kari Seethodu, 55, and two youths, Amara Appalaraju, 24, and Kari Garagayya, 24, who had gone missing. The sole breadwinner of his family.
On Wednesday evening, after a 72-hour multi-agency search operation, the administration quietly transitioned from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
The three-member fact-finding committee submitted its report to the Andhra Pradesh government with a chilling, devastating conclusion: “The six missing fishermen are officially presumed dead.”
As state Excise and Mines Minister Kollu Ravindra distributed ex-gratia checks of ₹10 lakh to bereaved families, reality settled in like winter fog on the coast. The sea had taken its toll, leaving behind a coastline scarred by deep structural questions, community finger-pointing and sudden tragedy.
last Call
The journey began on 1 July with general optimism. The crew, a united group of relatives and lifelong neighbors from coastal Visakhapatnam and neighboring Vizianagaram districts, set off from the Visakhapatnam fishing port.
The weather for early July was normal – choppy but manageable for a strongly mechanized boat designed to handle deep ocean waves.
For three days, the voyage went as planned, the seasonal hold gradually being filled. But by July 4, the atmosphere in the Bay of Bengal had turned inauspicious. A powerful low pressure system, which later weakened off the Odisha coast, developed rapidly, causing rough waves. On shore, worried families monitored weather conditions and called the crew, urging them to turn back.
Around 2.30 pm on Saturday, Kari Chinna spoke to her family on the phone. “We are near Gangavaram,” he assures them, looking at the beach. “We’ll be inside the port gate within an hour.” This was the last time anyone on shore would hear those sounds.
A few minutes later, the boat’s engine failed, taking the ship out of control and sending her broadside into waves four to five meters high. A huge wave hit its shore, causing it to collapse violently.
“One of our guys, Kari Chinnayya, went into the fishing spot below deck to secure the hatch,” explains Chinna. “Within seconds, a second wave completely overturned us. Chinnayya was trapped inside the belly of the ship. We could hear him, but we could not reach him. He went down with the boat.”
The six remaining fishermen climbed onto the slippery, overturned fiberglass hull, and clung to it for six excruciating hours in the freezing rain.
At about 9 pm the trapped air was released and the hull sank at depth. Thrown back into the water, they held each other’s hands and began to swim towards the distant ship’s light, but powerful undercurrents tore them apart one by one.
Chinna remained adrift until 9 a.m. Sunday, when MV Universal Wealthy, a Panama-flagged cargo ship carrying Chinese nationals, sighted her, threw a lifebuoy and alerted maritime authorities.
The families of fishermen missing in the Visakhapatnam fishing port are sharing a moment of deep grief and collective grief after the news of their loved ones going missing in the high seas. | Photo Courtesy: V. Raju
Anatomy of air-sea rescue
The distress call triggered an immediate, large-scale search and rescue (SAR) operation across thousands of square nautical miles. The Indian Coast Guard deployed frontline patrol vessels ICGS Kanaklata Barua and ICGS Veera to establish a search grid based on the drift models generated by the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). Naval Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and fixed-wing Dornier aircraft from INS Dega scanned the turbulent waters using thermal imaging and advanced radar systems.
While the extreme depth and heavy silt of the continental shelf complicated subsurface tracking, the state’s coastal law enforcement worked around the clock to manage the search grid and coordinate with central defense agencies.
Inspector General (IG) Coastal Security Gopinath Jatti said, “The Eastern Naval Command deployed two ships and two helicopters, one Sea King and one advanced light helicopter, for search and rescue operations. Electronic surveillance was maintained through the Regional Operations Station at Visakhapatnam. Despite adverse weather, the ships and aircraft deployed in the operation continued the search for the remaining six fishermen.”
By Tuesday midnight, after all physical search efforts and survival time had been exhausted, the active search was called off, and the case was handed over to the civil administration.
blame game
While the government moved quickly with financial relief, local fishing community leaders pointed to systemic shortcomings.
Janakiram, a prominent leader of the Visakhapatnam Mechanized Boat Owners Association, questioned the initial response timeline, arguing that earlier mobilization during midnight on Saturday could have changed the outcome.
The tragedy has brought into focus widespread, long-standing structural problems. Deep sea fishermen often venture far beyond the reach of mobile towers, leaving them completely cut off when the weather system suddenly becomes unstable. While central guidelines allow 24-metre vessels, Andhra Pradesh’s fleet is limited to small 5 to 15-metre boats that struggle against heavy monsoon waves. Most local vessels also lack basic International Labor Organization (ILO) safety requirements, including satellite transponders, modern navigation equipment, life rafts and crew insurance.
Arjili Dasu, general secretary of the Federation of Indian Fishers Organizations (FIFO), stressed that the main problem is the lack of protective infrastructure. “We are sending people into the high seas in ships that lack satellite communication terminals and emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs),” Dasu said. “The ex-gratia amount of ₹10 lakh is like bandaging a deep wound. We don’t want compensation for dead bodies; we want investment in systems that keep our brothers alive.”
administrative resolution
To circumvent the standard seven-year waiting period required under the Indian Evidence Act for declaring a missing person legally dead, the Andhra Pradesh government invoked the provisions of GO 54.
A special panel comprising RDOs, DSPs and Assistant Directors of Fisheries, linking the testimonies of survivors with Coast Guard technical logs, issued prompt “declared dead” certification, enabling direct release of ₹10 lakh to dependent nominees within 92 hours.
Still, the tragedy highlights a larger crisis emerging along Andhra Pradesh’s 1,053-km coastline, where 2.35 lakh active fishermen live in 694 villages. Over the past decade, maritime accidents have taken the lives of approximately 700 local people.
Due to industrial pollution, municipal sewage discharge and climate change affecting sea surface temperatures and current patterns, the traditional 5 kilometer fishing areas near the coast have almost disappeared. Fishermen will now have to travel distances of more than 30 km, turning a simple four-hour fishing trip into a arduous deep sea expedition lasting 12-168 hours, sharply increasing their exposure to volatile risks in the open ocean.
Authorities launched an extensive search operation over the sea along with Indian Coast Guard helicopters. | Photo Courtesy: V. Raju
haunted pier
As the sun sets over Visakhapatnam port, fishing activity continues unabated. Yet, at the edge of the jetty, seasoned fishermen quietly gaze towards the Gangavaram headland. They know that ten miles offshore, beneath the heavy waves, lies the wreck of IND-AP-MM-V5-83 – now a lonely underwater tomb for six of their own men, swallowed by a sudden mechanical failure and a rogue wave on an otherwise routine Saturday.
The distressed families will return to their villages, using the compensation to pay off mounting debts for nets and diesel. Their children will grow up hearing stories of fathers who disappeared into the deep blue, while the sea remains vast, indifferent and always hungry.
