PUDUKOTTAI: Four fishermen from Ponnagaram village near Manamelkudi in Pudukkottai, who went missing at sea for nearly two days, were rescued on Sunday after fellow fishermen traced them drifting in a damaged boat about 15 nautical miles off the coast. The rescued fishermen were identified as Mummoorthy, Vinayagam, Manikandan and Mani.
They had ventured into the sea on Friday (January 9) afternoon in a single fishing boat but failed to return by the next day. With permission from the Coastal Security Group and local police, groups of fishermen launched a search operation in their boats over the past two days. On Saturday afternoon, they spotted the missing boat adrift and found all four men stranded but alive.
According to the police, the fishing boat broke down while the fishermen were pulling their nets in the sea. They tried several times to fix the engine but failed. The problem became worse when the anchor rope snapped, and strong winds pushed the boat away from its position.
Police added that there was no communication equipment on board, therefore fishermen had no way to call for help and could only wait for other boats to notice them.
The rescuers brought both the fishermen and the damaged boat safely back to shore.