Mangalore: Sea Remains Turbulent, Search for Two Fishermen Futile
Pics by Dayananda Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Aug 17: Incessant rains have been drenching Karnataka coastline spread over Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts. The rains that began on Sunday night continue to pour with varying intensities, sometimes turning into drizzle, while on others, becoming a heavy downpour. Arabian Sea remains turbulent, and several fishermen have returned to their bases or the nearest ports, awaiting improvement in the situation. Many deep sea fishing boats continue to be in the sea. While several boats that left from the local port got anchored in Malpe port, some boats from various places including Kerala have reached the local port in view of disturbances at sea.

Search operations to find out the two missing fishermen, Kalanchiyan (35) from Tekkuvady and Jesu Kumar (40) have not yielded any results. It may be recalled that out of the four fishermen of the capsized boat, ‘Mahalasa’, one had succeeded in swimming to the shore, while the body of Murty (35), was recovered on Monday morning. The boat was found to have been washed away to Kotepura shore. It is gathered that Jesu Kumar had joined the boat just two days back.

Six fishermen, who faced danger after the engine of their mechanized boat developed problems about 20 nautical miles off Gangolli port, were rescued with the help of local fishermen. The boat, ‘Hiral’, owned by Anil Salian from Yermal, which left Malpe port on August 7, got stranded on August 14 in the sea. The fishermen in this boat were brought to safety by sending a boat to rescue them.

The meteorological department has predicted heavy rains coupled with winds with a velocity of 45 to 55 kms per hour in the next two days. The district administration of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts have been closely monitoring the situation, and asked the concerned to be in preparedness to take steps to handle emergencies that might occur.