Six fishermen narrowly escaped death in Ghana when a supply vessel, MV Fast Sailor, supporting offshore oil operations rammed into a fishing canoe crushing it into pieces off the coast of Takoradi in the Western Region, at dawn Monday.
The fishermen were later rescued by the same vessel and rushed to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) Hospital where they are receiving attention.
The vessel, which was built in 1997 with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) number 8968674 and flying a USA flag with the port of registry as New Orleans, Los Angeles was brought in to the country to support offshore oil operations by one of the oil companies.
According to the fishermen, who said they were terrified by the incident, they were going about their normal fishing operations in the open sea when the supply vessel suddenly appeared and rammed into their canoe at about 5:00am Monday.
A source at the port told graphic.com.gh that the fishermen’s canoe was smashed into pieces throwing the fishermen into the sea.
It said the fishermen managed to keep afloat until the vessel, Fast Sailor, came back and rescued them, gave them some dry clothes to wear and sent them to the shore.
However, the fishermen lost their fishing net, tools, outboard motor and other belongings they had on board during the expedition.
The vessel was said to be traveling at top speed and the crew indicated that they could not see the fishermen.
They blamed the accident on the cloudy nature of the morning resulting in poor visibility.
The crew said the vessel was returning to the shore after successfully supplying rigs and platforms currently being used in carrying out exploration activities, development and production off the coast of the Western Region.
The fishermen said they were half-way through their early dawn expedition when the incident occurred.
The current incident brings to three the number of accidents offshore involving vessels, canoes and small fishing trawlers.
In all five fishermen were killed in earlier accidents.
The regional office of the fisheries commission has called for urgent action to halt the fatalities offshore.
Mr Alex Sabah, the Regional Director, said the commission would be discussing the issue at a higher level with the agents of vessels and leaders of the fishing communities in the Western Region.
He, however, commended the vessel for not ignoring the fishermen to the high current offshore but bringing them to the shore.
The Ghana Maritime Authority and the Police Service have begun investigations into the incident.
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