As many as six fishermen from Andhra Pradesh, who went into the sea and were missing for the past 20 days following a cyclone, returned from West Bengal on Monday.
The fishermen are Karipingari Venkateswarlu of Tadichetlapalem village, K. Chittibabu of Chinnaramudupalem, Katam Jalaiah of Nutakuru village of Nellore district, K. Jalaiah of Vetapalem village of Prakasham district and T. Nagaraju and Saikam Nagur of Gilakaladindi.
They went into the sea from Machilipatnam on Boat No. KR2 1641 on June 15. But, the boat developed snags and got stranded in the sea on June 18. As the battery dried up, communication with the mechanised boat was cut off.
Meanwhile, the Haldia Coast Guard Dornier surveillance aircraft traced the fishermen in the boat, at 160 nautical miles away from the port, on July 3. The next day, the coast guard ship rescued the fishermen.
On receiving information, Commissioner of Fisheries Ram Sankar Naik and Krishna District Collector Babu A. began making efforts to bring the fishermen back.
Fisheries Department deputed Deputy Director V.V. Krishna Murthy, who left for Paradeep and brought the fishermen back. They arrived at Vijayawada by Coromandal Express on Monday.
The District Collector received the fishermen at the Vijayawada railway station and inquired about their health condition. He congratulated the team on their return.
“The operation gave immense satisfaction to me. I am happy to see the fishermen with their family members who showered their joy with tears. Hope they will recover and go for fishing soon,” Mr. Babu said.
