Missing boat mystery persists

Team Udayavani, Dec 30, 2018, 8:56 AM IST

Malpe: The police of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra along with the Indian Coast Guard are still searching the mysteriously disappeared Suvarna Tribhuja fishing boat along with its crew of 8, and have not yet found any important lead. The mystery persists.

15 days have passed since the fishing boat along with its crew went missing mysteriously and this confusing situation has only left the family members of the fishermen in an ocean of misery.

Two police teams led by superintendent of police Sampath Kumar and Kiran respectively have been sent to Goa and Maharashtra and have joined in with the officers of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) there who are also assisting the operation. Till now no information has been received from them informs DySP Jai Shanker.

70% boat remain at harbour

In the backdrop of the missing boat and its crew which is yet to be located, boats which had returned to the port after indulging in fishing on the high seas have not ventured out into the sea again. Close to 70% of the boats have remained back at Malpe Fishing Harbour.

Suspected terrorist act: MLA Bhat

MLA Raghupati Bhat has written a letter to the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on December 27 which stated that the Coast Guard had launched a search for the fishing boat, there had been no conclusive information about it till date.

 “The fishermen community here strongly believes that this is a case where pirates or terrorists have hijacked the boat and have held these fishermen as hostages,” said Mr Bhat.

Union ministers informed

Yashpal Suvarna, president of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Fish Marketing Federation addressed reporters and said that since the boat had gone missing off Goa coast, the matter had already been brought to the notice of the Union Ministers Ms. Sitharaman and D.V. Sadananda Gowda.

He said that such fishing boats normally took ration of food and water for a fortnight. The missing boat would have run out of food supply by now, he observed. “Such an incident had not taken place in the past,” he said

ICG and Indian Navy

The Defence minister Ms. Sitharaman had directed the Coast Guard and Indian Navy to search for the missing boat. A team of 15 fishermen had already left from Malpe and was coordinating with the Coastal Security Police (CSP) in the search for the missing fishermen, he informed.