The sight of 25-odd fishing boats bouncing around in the water and drifting along appeared beautiful from a distance.
Only, it wasn’t, as the boats, which were adrift after getting untethered from the Thoppumpady harbour unnoticed, were fast heading towards the direction of the Mattancherry wharf unmanned on Thursday afternoon. The incident came to the notice of the Coastal Police around 3.15 p.m.
“All the boats untethered were from Colachel in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. The boats were about to reach the Mattancherry wharf where a few ships were berthed,” said Jagathykumar, assistant sub inspector, Coastal Police.
Two boats of the Coastal Police, one of the Marine Enforcement, and around 12 fishing boats and their crew along with the crew of the untethered boats rushed to the spot to avoid a potential collision with the ships. “Some vessels adrift were driven back by their employees, while a majority of them were towed back to the harbour,” said Mr. Jagathykumar.
It remains to be known how so many vessels got untethered from the harbour. Suresh Kumar, ASI, and civil police officer Joshy Varghese also participated in the operation.
