Piracy suspected behind disappearance of fishing boat, fishermen from mid-sea

Malpe: A search operation undertaken to trace the whereabouts of eight fishermen, who went missing mysteriously along with their boat during deep sea fishing expedition has remained futile so far.

On December 13 night the boat ‘Suvarna Thribhuja’ had set out fishing from Malpe and the fishermen – Badanidiyur Chandrashekar (40), Damodar Badanidiyur (40), Lakshman of Kumta (45), Sathish (35), Harish (28), Ramesh (30), Jogaiah (40) and Ravi Monkey (27) were in contact with their family members till December 25 midnight after which they went incommunicado. 

It is said that the boat was missing around 40-50 km Goa-Rathnagiri route from the sea shore.

Apart from the coast guard teams of Mangaluru, Goa and Maharastra, several boats from Malpe undertook a search operation for the missing boat but have not been able to locate it so far. 

Meanwhile members of the Malpe Fishermen Association doubt that the boat may have been hijacked since there is no evidence to prove that the boat may have drowned. Usually in case of drowning, debris from the boat are found floating in the water.

Former fisheries minister Pramod Madhwaraj has urged Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and DGP Neelamani N Raju to constitute a special team to trace the missing fishermen.