Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, May 3: In a tweet, spokespersons of the Indian Navy have claimed that remnants of 'Suvarna Tribhuja' fishing boat that had left for undertaking fishing activity from Malpe port here on December 15 last year have been found near Malvan in Maharashtra by the personnel of the Navy's warship, 'INS Nireekshak' and expert divers on Wednesday May 1.
The said fishing boat had left Malpe port with two fishermen from Malpe and five more from Uttara Kannada district. After having been located very close to the seashore in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, the boat had gone missing under mysterious circumstances. Detailed searches conducted by the police, Coastal Security Force and Indian Navy had failed to yield any positive results. A concerted opinion that 'Suvarna Tribhuja' boat would have met with some accident and drowned in sea had been arrived. This theory got further evidence when some baskets inside this boat were found near the coast at Malvan port.
The warship, 'INS Nireekshak' was conducting searches at the bottom of the sea at Sindhudurg coast since December last year by using SONAR technology. In the past, some remnants of a boat, both big and small, had been found at a depth of 60 to 70 meters. One among them was about 75 to 78 feet long. Experts had guessed that this piece could be a part of the missing fishing boat.
Divers confirm
Some remnants of the boat were found about 60 meters deep about 33 km away from Malvan coast in Maharashtra. The Navy spokespersons who tweeted said that the divers have confirmed that these pieces belonged to the missing 'Suvarna Tribhuja' boat.
The family members of missing fishermen, Chandrashekhar and Damodar, had been led by the navy officials recently to the spot in the sea where the boat supposedly went missing. This was in tune with a promise made by the union defence minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, to conduct search operations in the presence of the families of missing fishermen. The assurance was given to meet the demand made by the families to involve themselves in the search operations, during the visit of the minister to the houses of the missing fishermen. The families desired to see the spot where the fishermen went missing, and as such, the officials of the Indian Navy took them there, sources stated.
It may be recalled that fishermen from the twin-districts had expressed anger repeatedly at various forums at the inability of the government to find out the fate of the missing boat and its fishermen. A huge protest had also been staged and opposition leaders had used this issue to floor the union government for its failure on this front.