Twenty four hours later, many fishermen are yet to find their boats that went missing after cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai on Monday. The heavy tidal waves and gusty wind had severely damaged many boats. Some went missing and are still to be traced.
Bhaskar Tandel, member of the fishing community and president of Macchimar Sarhoday Sahakari Society (MSSS), Colaba, said that they have incurred a loss of Rs 20 lakh so far. "More than 45 boats have been severely damaged. We were taking all these boats out of the water till 2 am last night. Right now, repairs are underway. Due to the strong wind and heavy tidal waves, many boats toppled in the water despite being anchored," Tandel said.
Chintamani Niwate, a member of the fishing community based in Khar-Danda creek, said many boats went missing and the owners of these boats are yet to trace them.
"100 boats were parked near the creek, out of which 15 boats have been seriously damaged. The hulls, radars, pumps and engines of these boats have been damaged completely and now they are beyond repair," Niwate said. "We are still assessing the loss. Five of our boats are still missing and we have no clue where they are," he added.
Ali Ashraf, another fisherman and community leader of Marve beach in Malad, said that twelve boats from his community were destroyed entirely. "We had kept the boats out of water, but the force of the water was so violent that it toppled the boats," Ashraf said.
"Apart from the boats, our fishing equipment like nets, tumblers and hooks got completely washed away," he added.