Amaravati, May 1 (IANS): It was a 'land ahoy!' moment of a different kind for 887 fishermen who set foot in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. Stranded in Gujarat for more than a month due to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, the first batch of stranded fishermen took a circuitous bus route to their native state.

Leaving Gujarat in 12 buses, on Wednesday, the stranded fishermen entered Andhra Pradesh at the Garikipadu border checkpost ending their long-drawn exile of sorts.

Majority of the fishermen in the batch that returned to Andhra Pradesh on Friday, belong to Srikakulam district. While 700 of the fishermen are from Srikakulam district, 98 hail from Vizianagaram district, and 77 belong to Viskhapatnam. The group also includes a few fishermen belonging to Odisha and Chattisgarh.

The local authorities comprising of peoples' representatives, police and local administration, waited patiently at the border to welcome the homesick group, whom the lockdown had forced to stay away from home.

District SP Ravindranath Babu said that the fishermen would be sent to their respective districts with police escort.

More than 4,500 fishermen who had gone to Gujarat for fishing activities, got stuck at Veraval, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed from March 24. The lockdown extension, further increased their hardships as many of them were forced to stay in the fishing boats amid dwindling supplies of essentials.

During their stay in Gujarat, two of the stranded fishermen reportedly dead. While one of the fishermen allegedly committed suicide for fear of contracting coronavirus, one more person died due to alleged lack of proper nourishment.

Finally, things began moving last week, with the Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy taking up the issue with Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy. Jagan Mohan Reddy also spoke to his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani.

The Andhra government cleared the file for repatriation of the stranded fishermen by bus at a cost of Rs 3 crore.