Two fishermen drown in sea after boat capsize

The deceased fishermen, Benjamin and Dasan, along with another fisherman, Rasalaiyan, had gone to fishing from Colachel in a country boat on Friday. As the southwest monsoon season has commenced, the sea had become rough and there were high tides. 

While they were fishing around 1.5 nautical miles from the coast, their country boat was capsized by a high tide. The fishermen trio tried to swim back to the shore, but the gusty winds and underwater current made it difficult for them. Only Rasalaiyan reached the Colachel coast. The two other fishermen went missing. 

Coast Guard, Marine Police and fellow fishermen launched a search operation to trace them, but failed to locate the duo in the waters on Friday. However, on Saturday morning when they were about to resume the search, they spotted the bodies of the fishermen washed ashore. The bodies were sent for post-mortem. 

Similarly, the sea remained rough in Rameswaram on Saturday. Tourists and country boat fishermen kept away from the sea following high tides. Even the boats were not tied to the fishing jetties.