Mangaluru: Nearly four-and-half months after going missing, wreckage of the fishing vessel Suvarna Tribhuja has been found, by the Indian Navy, off the Malvan coast in Maharashtra. All the seven crew members of the boat are feared dead.
The vessel had set sail from Malpe harbour in Udupi on December 13 but two days later i.e on December 15 it lost contact with other fishing vessels and the harbour. Since then an extensive search had been launched to trace the whereabouts of the vessel and its crew.
“After an intensive search by ships and aircraft since December 2018, we have located the wreckage of the fishing vessel 33 km of the coast of Malvan on Wednesday. The wreck was found through ‘Side Scan Sonar’ operations and confirmed on Thursday by naval divers,” tweeted spokesperson of the Indian Navy.
INS Nireekshak set out in search of Suvarna Tribhuja last week along with experts and a few fishermen. During the search using ‘Side Scan Sonar’ technology, they found the wreckage on Wednesday 60 ft deep in the sea. Expert divers on Thursday reached the wreckage and confirmed it as Suvarna Tribhuja. The navy has not commented on the missing crew, but sources said there is no chance of their survival.
Post the vessel's sudden disapperance, ships, choppers and aircraft of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Coastal Security Police had undertaken a search operation, but could not find any clue. Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also visited the missing fishermen’s houses in Udupi.
The crew members who are feared dead in the incident are Laxman, Ravi, Harish, Satish, Ramesh of Uttara Kannada district and Chandrashekar and Damodhar of Udupi district.
