The Andhra Pradesh government has intensified efforts to locate the whereabouts of fishermen who went missing for the past two days even as the government received information that two of the missing fishermen were dead.
In all 210 fishermen in 35 boats – 33 from East Godavari and one each from Krishna and Prakasam districts – went missing. Of them, 90 fishermen in 15 boats returned to the coast safely and the whereabouts of 120 more is yet to be known. The government has opened a control room in the Fisheries Commissioner’s office here and had requisitioned the services of Navy and others in the search operations.
According to Agriculture Minister P. Pulla Rao, the Navy had deployed two aircraft, one chopper and two boats in the search operations while the choppers of Coast Guard, Reliance, ONGC and Cairn India were also pressed into service to locate the missing boats.
He exhorted the fishermen community to avail the government’s subsidy of 75 per cent being extended to purchase boats and equipment designed to meet the safety norms of the sea. The government had released Rs. 10.11 crore towards this end and more would be released as and when necessary.
90 of 210 mission fishermen returned to coast safely in 15 boats
