VIJAYAWADA: The four fishermen who went missing in the Bay of Bengal a few days ago were found near Kothapalem village near Amalapuram on Thursday morning. The fishermen identified as V Chinna Mastan (51), R Chinna Nanchariah (64), Ch Narasimha Rao (51) and M Venkateswara Rao (44) are natives of Campbellpeta near Machilipatnam.
They ventured into the sea on July 2 in a mechanised boat from Machilipatnam port. While they were in the Antarvedi coastal area of East Godavari district, the engine stopped working due to a technical problem.
One of the fishermen in the boat had only a simple keypad phone through which they sent a message to the owner of the boat, B Yedukondalu, seeking help stating that they were stuck in the sea near the Antarvedi area.
As the phone ran out of charge, the fishermen in the boat lost contact with the outside world. Search operations were carried out for the last two days using choppers and boats by the Navy and Marine Police between the Kakinada and Antarvedi coast, but couldn’t trace the fishermen.
The search ended on a happy note with the fisherman calling officials and informing them about their whereabouts on Thursday morning. Krishna District Joint Collector Mahesh Kumar Ravirala said that the four fishermen were traced near Kothapalem village near Amalapuram.
The officials in Konaseema district have taken the fishermen to a nearby hospital for check-up and they are stable. "We are making necessary arrangements for bringing back the fishermen to Machilipatnam at the earliest," he said.
Meanwhile, former minister Perni Venkataramaiah Nani interacted with the fishermen over phone and assured them of extending all necessary support on behalf of the government.