CHENNAI: A pall of gloom has descended the fishing community in Kasimedu as four fishermen from the hamlet, who ventured into the sea on Thursday, have not returned home.
According to sources, the fishermen - R Nelson (34), P Rajesh (29), R Suresh (21) and R Manivannan (15) from Singaravelar Nagar at Kasimedu - had gone for deep-sea fishing on a fiber boat at 3 am on October 1. The boat had navigated its way for about 20 km towards the east and was expected to reach the shore before the dusk on the same day.
“However, they are yet to arrive,” said a panicked Desam, the mother of Manivannan. She said, “My son is into the profession (fishing) only for the last six months. As he did not carry a cell phone, it is difficult to trace his whereabouts.” What has made the situation more complicated is that none of four had taken a mobile phone while going for fishing, the locals claim. A formal complaint was lodged with the N4 Fishing Harbour Police Station, from where the information was passed on to the fisheries department.
Speaking to Express, K Bharathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association said, bad weather could have resulted in failure of the fiber boat engine.
“We informed the Coast Guard regarding the missing fishermen and they have started search operations by helicopter. Also, other fishermen were asked to help the missing ones, in case the four were found to be struggling at the deep sea.”
About two months ago, eight fishermen from Kasimedu went missing. While three among them survived and reached Bangladeshi coast after losing direction due to inclement weather, the rest died.