Rescue mission on to trace two missing fishermen near Tiruchendur

MADURAI: The ICG has launched a search for two fishermen of Amali Nagar near Tiruchendur, Thoothukudi district, who fell into sea after their boat capsized in rough seas.

The ill-fated fishermen, Ashwin and Prashanth (40), who went missing after falling into the sea are yet to be traced. Fellow fishermen, who came to know about the incident, could not venture into the sea owing to the squally weather. Hence, they sought the help of the Indian Coast Guard to trace those missing fishermen.

The incident occurred when four fishermen, including the boat owner Ashwin, ventured into sea and were returning to shore. While two other fishermen Palraj (22) and Nithyanandam (42) managed to escape and returned to shore in late on Monday, Ashwin and Prashanth could not make it.

Thoothukudi Collector K Senthil Raj on Tuesday said ICG ships Aviraj and Aadesh have been engaged since Monday evening to trace the missing fishermen.

The district administration has tied up with ICG to engage five local fishermen along with ICG ship Aadesh. In addition to these measures, a Dornier aircraft from ICG has also been deployed for aerial surveillance.

Apart from these rescue efforts, Navy personnel on request have sent one helicopter from Ramanathapuram INS Parundu to join the rescue mission, the Collector said.

EPS urges state government to immediately help missing fishermen

AIADMK interim general secretary and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday urged the DMK government to immediately rescue the missing Tamil Nadu fishermen, who ventured into the sea, from various districts of the state. “Though the RMC has indicated a downpour red alert, the DMK government has not taken any precautionary measures. Two fishermen who ventured into the sea for fishing from Thoothukudi have not returned till now,” the AIADMK leader said in a statement. Alleging that the state government has not taken any step to search for the missing fishermen, he said people were shocked that the missing fishermen were from the constituency of the state Fisheries Minister. “Like this, reports also said that hundreds of fishermen from Kanniyakumari district, who ventured into the sea in about 15 boats, were also missing,” he claimed. Palaniswami said that the DMK government should take immediate steps to rescue the missing fishermen and also take all the required rehabilitation measures. He also asked the state government to monitor continuously till the end of the southwest monsoon and help the fishermen.