The anxious wait of the family members of the seven fishermen from Parlopeta and Dummulapeta in the city, who ventured into the Bay of Bengal for Tuna fishing, continued on Tuesday with none of them getting a phone call on the 13th day of their missing.
Even as the government imposed a ban on deepwater fishing, the fishermen were forced to venture into the sea allegedly in the absence of the payment of ex gratia. Their initial plan was to go towards Narasapuram side to catch the Tuna variety that has greater demand in the local market.
Surada Raju, 42, Tiridi Amma Rao, 47, Meda Srinu, 51, of Dummulapeta and Chintapalli Raju, 48, Yedamodula Jagadeesh, 30, Potti Tata Rao, 49, and Chintapalli Aggipetti, 45, of Parlopeta ventured into the sea in a mechanised boat that belonged to Kundu Lakshmana Rao in the early hours of May 31. Despite making several attempts to contact at least one of them on the mobile phones, the family members could not get any details.
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They approached Mr. Lakshmana Rao, who, in turn, brought the issue to the notice of the district administration on Monday.
Though officials assured them that search operations would commence to trace out the fishermen, no development took place on Tuesday.
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As the weather was quite conducive in the last fortnight, the missing of the fishermen turned into a puzzle even for the officials.