Five helicopters were pressed into service to search for missing fishermen in Bay of Bengal off the Kakinada coast in Andhra Pradesh after 31 boats with about 180 fishermen lost communication contact two days ago, official sources said.
In all, two helicopters of ONGC and one each of Reliance, Cairn Energy and Coast Guard were deployed in search of the missing fishermen, who went into the sea on June 16 and 17. While two of the helicopters returned later in the day, the search was continuing by three others.
Two ships of the Coast Guard were also deployed and instructed to search up to Odisha. The sources said that engines of two boats had failed and they could be adrift in the high seas. Each boat would normally be carrying about six fishermen.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation and instructed authorities to deploy helicopters and step up rescue operations.
