The boat, which had gone missing off the Orissa coast with 42 people on board, was traced today and all the passengers are safe.
Ten women and eight children were among the passengers.
“The boat has been traced by one of the rescue teams in a forest area between Chudamani and Kasia and all the passengers and crew are stated to be safe,” Bhadrak district Superintendent of Police J N Pankan told PTI over phone.
The mechanised boat had anchored at the spot due to some technical problem in the vessel, he said.
Arrangements were being made to bring back the stranded people, who were said to be in “proper condition”, he said.
Members of Trawler Owners’ Association of Chudamani, which took part in the rescue operation, said the passengers and crew were in good health and they would undergo a medical examination.
District Collector K C Patra, who rushed to the area along with the SP and other senior officials, said no contact could be established with those travelling in the boat as there was no network at the place where it had anchored.
The boat was traced after a massive rescue operation was conducted since yesterday by vessels of Coast Guard, DRDO and Dhamra Port Copmany Ltd (DPCL), he said. Local fishermen and trawler operators had also joined the rescue work.
Rescue operation was hampered due to rough weather and rains caused by a low pressure over the bay. An aircraft and helicopter requisitioned for the job were unable to join the operation, Mr. Patra said.
Altogether 45 residents of Nuagaon village in Bhadrak district had left in a mechanised boat for a nearby Shiva temple at Aradi on Tuesday. On their return journey to Chudamani jetty, three of them stayed behind at another temple near Dhamra.
