As many as seven marine surveillance vessels and a special aircraft have been on the job of searching for the mechanised boat with seven fishermen on board that ventured into the Bay of Bengal on May 31 and was found missing subsequently, according to East Godavari district Collector Kartikeya Misra.
After attending a call from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday morning during which the latter inquired the whereabouts of the missing boat and underlined the need for undertaking search operations, Mr. Misra released a note to the media stating that the officials received complaint on June 12 and the operations commenced the next day.
“Three marine surveillance vessels from Kakinada and another four vessels from Visakhapantam are on the job of searching the missing boat. In addition, we have also pressed into service a special aircraft from Visakhapatnam,” he said, adding that information pertaining to the fishermen and the mechanised boat had already been forwarded to the coastal security forces and the oil companies along the coast. “We have also alerted the coastal security forces headquarters in Chennai and expecting information about the fishermen at any moment. The search will be continued till the fishermen are spotted,” he said.
