NAGERCOIL: Body of one of the first fisherman to fall prey to the devastating cyclone Ockhi reached the harbour at Thengaipattinam in the early hours of Monday. The body of Jermias (50), a fisherman from Ramanthurai, was brought by his colleagues, who had a harrowing tale to narrate of the havoc.
With more than 500 fishermen waiting for the arrival of the boat, Lirosha, arrived to the Thengaipattinam fishing harbour along with the crew. Transferring the body of Jermias to the Ambulance for post mortem, the Marine Officer arrived to inspect the crew and record the names of people survived. Speaking to the Express, Libin, the owner of Lirosha, said, “We left the Thengaipattinam harbour on November 22 and have been near Kozhikode. When the heavy rains hit us on November 28, we tried to manage, however, our connection to the devices broke on November 29 when the boat flooded with sea water.
While everyone was trying to hold on to the boat, Jermias slipped and fell into the sea and before we could rescue him, the boat moved away from him. We were not able to see him and during this time, our boat toppled over and we all fell into the sea. Surviving the winds was the only thought and when the waves turned the boat back, we boarded and collected the nets that fell into the sea. That was when we found Jermias floating in the sea and we couldn’t leave him back.Another fishermen said, “For three days, his body was in the ship.”