The ongoing search and rescue operation in the Arabian Sea for the missing fishermen in the aftermath of Cyclone Ockhi, yielded one more body on Sunday.
According to officials, the Coast Guard vessel ICGS Sankalp fished out the unidentified body, which was floating in the sea, about 20 nautical miles off Kochi. The body, which was handed over to the Marine Enforcement wing, was brought to the Vypeen Boat Jetty by evening.
The body would be shifted to the Ernakulam General Hospital for post-mortem, officials said.
Meanwhile, the operations to bring back the fishermen rescued from the high seas and sheltered in the Lakshadweep Islands continued during the day with as many as 273 fishermen on board 20 fishing vessels reaching Kochi on Sunday. According to officials with the Fisheries Department, the fishing vessels carrying the rescued fishermen arrived at the Thoppumpady fishing harbour between Saturday midnight and Sunday morning.
Of the fishermen returned, only 17 were Keralites while the remaining were natives of various coastal districts in Tamil Nadu. A team of revenue officials and an official delegation from Tamil Nadu, which is camping in Kochi, coordinated the arrangements, including financial assistance, for their onward journey to their native places.
The authorities are yet to trace the location of about 28 out of the 120 vessels, which set sail from the Thoppumpady harbour days before the cyclone’s onset. ‘‘All of these boats, which are on multi-days fishing expedition, should be safe as they are expected to be located off the Goa coast. They are most likely not to have encountered a rough sea and hence are expected to return only on completion of their expedition ’’said S. Mahesh, Fisheries Deputy Director, Kochi.