KOCHI: Two days after fishing boat ‘Oceanic’ sank to the bottom of the blue sea after being hit by an unknown ship, hope seemed to be drifting away for the relatives of the nine fishermen, who went missing.
Though INS Jamuna and two Navy helicopters, two Coast Guard boats and seven fishing boats from Munambam Harbour scoured the area from dawn to dusk on Wednesday, there was no trace of the missing people. The fishermen cast their nets and dragged the boats’ anchor through the sea floor hoping to locate Oceanic, but in vain. INS Sunayna, Navy’s offshore patrol vessel, joined the rescue operations with a full-fledged naval diving team, but that too failed to yield results.
Meanwhile, fishermen leaders demanded the Navy should use under-water search equipment to locate the boat. “The sea here is 75-metre deep and it’s difficult for the divers to reach the floor of the sea, said Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi president Charles George.
According to Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) officers, MV Desh Shakti, an oil tanker owned by Shipping Corporation of India, which was on its way to Iraq from Chennai, has been directed to anchor at Mangaluru port.
The ship, presently anchored about 1.5 nautical miles off Mangaluru, will be brought to the port on Thursday upon completing the proceedings. Similarly, two other ships that were present near the accident site have anchored at Mumbai while a direction have been issued to the fourth ship, which was on its way to Colombo, to stop.
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