Fisherman survives after swimming for 11 hours

Rajamahendravaram: A fisherman who went hunting in the sea was rescued by a group of fishermen when he almost lost hope of reaching shore after accidentally slipping from the boat during the night. The fisherman stranded in the sea with no one to rescue him that night and the next morning.

Gedala Apparao of Kakinada and five other fishermen left Kakinada for sea hunting on a boat from Machilipatnam and reached Antarvedi Harbor in Sakhinetipalli mandal of Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema District on Tuesday morning. The fish caught in the hunt was sold there.

From there, in the afternoon, they ventured into the sea for hunting.

At night they set a net in the sea and slept. Apparao was nowhere to be found when they got up in the middle of the night. They thought he must have slipped from the boat and immediately, fishermen took up search operations. But, he was not found.

But, Apparao kept swimming for 11 hours after falling into the sea at midnight. Some fishermen from Rajipet of Nakkapalli mandal of Visakha district went hunting from Antarvedi on Wednesday and noticed Apparao in the sea in the afternoon and rescued him and brought him to the shore. Apparao was immediately rushed to the government hospital in an ambulance, where he was given emergency treatment.

The doctors treating Apparao said that his health is stable. Locals thanked Rajipet fishermen who saved Apparao.

Apparao said that when he came to one side of the boat to urinate, he suddenly slipped off and fell into the wave presumably around 11 pm. The fisherman said he was blown away from the boat by the wind.