40 boats gutted in massive fire at Vizag fishing port

Visakhapatnam: At least 40 mechanized fishing boats were destroyed in a massive fire in the fishing port of Vizag on Sunday at midnight. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. The fishermen and the local police said that the fire that started in one of the boats spread to other boats found anchored in the vicinity.

“There were 500 boats in the dock at the time of the incident and 100 of them were set on fire. We tried to save 60 boats that suffered partial damages, but 40 were completely destroyed”, said Janakiram, president of the Association for the Welfare of Proprietaries of Mechanized Boats. de AP.

Each boat costs between 60 and 80 lakh rupees. The incident caused panic when the GLP cylinders of the boats exploded with a huge noise.

Police subcommissionado (Law and Order), K Anand Reddy, said that five units of firefighters were pressed into service to control the fire. As of now there are no reports of loss of lives, he added.

The police and the firefighters’ personnel said they would determine the exact cause of the accident once they were under control.