Ten days after cyclone Ockhi causing havoc in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu government still remain clueless over the number of fishermen dead and missing in the state, say Kanyakumari fishermen.
Even as the local fishermen claim that over 750 fishermen are still missing and put the death toll at 87 as per the eyewitness account, the state government has claimed only 547 are missing. As per the government data, only five fishermen from the state, including two from Kanyakumari district, have died.
The fishermen of Kanyakumari are known for venturing deep into the sea up to 600 nautical miles and staying for a duration of 30-45 days hunting sharks.
Rev. Fr. Churchill, general secretary of South Asian Fishermen Fraternity said with the information received from the fishermen who reached the shores, as many as 87 fishermen have died in the sea hit by the cyclone. "We have no information on 786 fishermen who ventured into the sea in 71 fishing boats," he said.
Twenty fishermen, who went on a search mission in five boats on Wednesday, returned with visuals of floating dead bodies of fishermen, Fr Churchill said adding they had recovered a plastic bag containing eight mobile phones.
"When our fishermen were able to locate find dead bodies in the sea, the Naval and the Coast Guard Ships are not doing enough to recover them," he complained. He wondered why Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami did not visit the district when he had time to participate in the MGR centenary celebrations.
Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Agency state Relief Commissioner Dr K Satyagopal told DNA that as of now only about 450 deep-sea fishermen remain untraceable. "We have collected the data of missing fishermen after verifying with each family. Our data of missing fishermen consist of those who ventured out from the state. Whereas the local people are including the names of fishermen who went to fishing from Kerala and other states. So the difference in the number of missing fishermen," he explained.
The Ministry of Defence said 10 ships and aircraft continue the search and rescue (SAR) operations for the tenth day as part of Operation Sahayam of Southern Naval Command with same zeal to bring succour to fishing community and seafarers. "In the past 72 hours, the search area was increased up to the coast of Maldives. However, no stranded boats, fishermen or floating bodies have been found in this duration," it said, adding that a total of 3.25 lakh square miles have been searched and sanitised by Indian Naval assets for providing SAR since cyclone Ockhi.
With the time running out, the families of fishermen in Kanyakumari are worried over the survival of missing fishermen in the deep sea. People from eight fishing villages are staging the protest for the third successive day on Saturday urging the Centre and the state government to find the missing fishermen at the earliest.
On Saturday, 27 fishermen in two boats returned to Thengapattanam in Kanyakumari after being stranded in the deep sea due to the cyclone. Jude, one of the fishermen said that it was a nightmarish experience as they were caught unaware of the approaching cyclone in the Arabian Sea. "We are only saved by the God. If the government had given us equipment to communicate from the deep sea, we would have got the cyclone warning.
Government should provide us with satellite phones rather than searching for us after a cyclone," he said. After spending over Rs eight lakh and 37 days in the deep sea, he said that they had to dispose the fish as it got spoiled.
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