The Fisheries Department has sought the support of the Coast Guard to trace a Beypore fishing boat with five workers that went missing on its return from Lakshadweep on April 22.
Department sources said there were unconfirmed reports of sighting a boat nearly 33 nautical miles off the Kochi coast by other fishers. Only the Coast Guard would be able to confirm the details. It was on April 18 that the boat Krishnapriya left for Lakshadweep to bring a cargo of fish from another boat. There were five fishermen hailing from the Lakshadweep islands on the boat.
Fishing Boat Owners’ Association leaders from Beypore said they had not received any distress signal from the boat that might have suffered an engine snag. “The boat is loaded with all essential items and we believe that the five fishers will be able to survive even in case of unexpected mechanical error,” said Karichal Preman, vice president of the Kerala Fishing Boat Operators’ Association. Also, we have almost confirmed from the information received from other fishers that the floating boat sighted 33 nautical miles off the Kochi coast was Krishnapirya, he said.
