Kochi mid-sea collision: Fishers’ kin stranded in a sea of despair

Day after tragedy, rescue workers seem to have lost hope, but relatives are pinning hopes on Navy, Coast Guard

Sunil Das, father of 19-year-old Bipul Das who went missing, and his relatives in Munambam wait for rescue boats to return from search operations | A Sanesh

KOCHI: Sunil Das, a man in his 70s, sits on a boat and stares at the blue waters waiting with bated breath for the rescue boats to arrive. It has been 18 hours since his 19-year-old son Bipul Das went missing along with eight others, after a ship rammed and sunk their fishing boat. Sunil Das was working at Beypore harbour and rushed to Munambam upon hearing about the tragedy.

A day after the tragedy, rescue workers seemed to have lost hope, but the relatives of the missing people are pinning hopes on the search operations launched by the Navy and Coast Guard. “Some other boat or a passing ship might have rescued them,” Sunil Das tried to console himself.

Bipul Das, a West Bengal native, came to Kerala, leaving behind his mottther and siblings, dreaming to support his family and to marry off his sister, who is a Class VIII student. He should also take care of his mentally challenged 15-year-old brother.

Basudeb Das, a relative of Bipul Das, also waits eagerly for his return. His eyes welled up on thoughts of his brother-in-law. “What if the rescue team fails to find him?” Nobody is sure about the fate of the nine fishermen. Hoping against hope, they eagerly wait for the return of the rescue boats. “It is not in our hands, we can only pray for his safe return,” says Basudeb Das.

Sunil Das has been working in Kerala for four years, and his son Bipul Das came to Kerala at the tender age of 11, hoping to support the family. “Seeing my struggles to support the family, he volunteered to work as a fisherman. He even left his studies for the family. He came to Kerala with a lot of dreams,” said Sunil Das.

Agony has engulfed Bipul Das’ family members, and his mother calls up Sunil every hour to enquire about his fate. “Back home, they are in deep distress. His mother is inconsolable and wants to hear from her son,” he said.

Desperate wait

Near Sunil Das sits Mahesh, a 27-year-old from Tamil Nadu, who has been waiting at the harbour since Wednesday morning hoping for the return of his three brothers: Yesupalan, Rajesh, and Dinesh. He arrived from Dubai on Tuesday night. “Our father died when we were young. We are four brothers and I can’t think about returning to my mother in Ramanthurai without my brothers,” said Mahesh.

“Relatives of the missing persons have been waiting at Munambam harbour since Tuesday. Some of their relatives have gone to the spot with rescue boats,” said Satheesh Chandra, son of P V Sivan, owner of the ill-fated fishing boat Oceanic.

“The boats have returned and our hearts sunk as we came to know there was no news about the missing persons. But the relatives are hopeful that some mystery will bring back their dear ones,” said Satheesh.