Luck by Chance: How a fisherman in Pakistan became an overnight millionaire

“One day, all your dream will come true. Much sooner than you think.” This is what happened with a fisherman in Pakistan’s Karachi city after he became a millionaire overnight after auctioning a haul of rare fish with many medicinal properties. Take a look. From rags to riches… Haji Baloch lives in the impoverished Ibrahim Hyderi fishing village. He and his workers caught the fish known as golden fish or “Sowa” in the local dialect from the Arabian Sea on Monday. “The entire catch was sold for some 70 million rupees at the Karachi harbour on Friday morning when fishermen auctioned off their catch,” Mubarak Khan of the Pakistan Fishermen Folk Forum said, according to PTI. “One fish fetches around seven million rupees in the auction,” Baloch said. “We were fishing in the open sea of Karachi…when we came across this huge cache of golden fish, and it was a windfall for us,” he said. Haji said he would share the money with his crew of seven people. About the rare fish The Sowa fish is considered priceless and rare since substances from its belly are said to have great healing and medicinal properties. A thread-like substance from the fish is also used in surgical procedures. The fish, which often weighs between 20 to 40 kilogrammes and can grow up to 1.5 meters, is much sought after in East Asian countries. More importantly, the Sowa also holds cultural and traditional significance, finding its use in traditional medicines and local cuisine. The fish comes near the coast only during breeding season. Similar incident In May 2021, a fisherman named Sajid Haji Abubakar accidently caught sowa off the coast of Balochistan province’s Gwadar. The croaker fish, which weighed 48 kilos, was sold for a hefty sum of Rs 7.2 million. According to Gulf Today, the lucky man credited boat’s owner Waheed Baloch for catching the fish. With inputs from PTI