Search on for 3 TN fishers near Kollam

Madurai: Search is on for three fishermen from Kanyakumari district, who went missing off the Kollam coast in Kerala on Thursday night. Damaged remains of the fibre boat in which the trio and two other fishermen went fishing was damaged by rough waves and hit the coastal erosion wall near Neendakara fishing harbour in Kollam district.

The damaged fibre boat belonged to Stanley of Neerody village in Kanyakumari district. Fishermen, who went fishing in the boat were identified as M Stanley, 47, M John Bosco, 46, J Sagayam, 32, S Nicholas, 40, and S Raju, 50, hailing from the same coastal village in Kanyakumari district.

“They went fishing from Neendakara fishing harbour on July 13. Around 11 pm on Thursday they reached the entrance of the harbour but could not reach the shore due to the rough sea. They were in touch with fishermen on the shore, who advised the men on the boat to wait till the waves calmed down,” said A Churchil of South Asian Fishermen Fraternity (SAFF).

He added that the fishermen were in touch with the men at shore till 11.30 pm. They could not make it to the shore till Friday morning. Around 7 am on Friday, the damaged remains of the boat were found on the sea erosion wall, while all the five men on the boat were missing.

Fishermen from Neerody rushed to Neendakara and joined an intensive search with Indian Coast Guard personnel and Kerala coastal police to find the missing fishermen. “Around 3 pm two of the fishermen – Stanley and Nicholas – swam to the shore. They were rushed to the hospital as they spent several hours in the rough sea. They are in a state of shock and we will be able to know more about the incident only when they recover. We have made an appeal to the governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to expedite the search and rescue the three other fishermen alive,” Churchil added.


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