Survival hopes of fishermen reported missing off Koderi dim

UDUPI: Hopes of survival of two out of four fishermen reported missing after their country boat Sagara Shri crashed into the breakwater at the mouth of Koderi fishing jetty in Byndoor taluk on Sunday is fast receding. By the time search operations were stopped late on Monday night, rescuers had first located the body of Nagraj Kharvi, 55, resident of Uppunda at Hosahithlu near Navunda and that of Laxman Kharvi, 35 at Hadaragoli, 5kms south of the incident spot later in the evening. Search for the other two missing fishermen is on.
Nagraj along with Manjunath Kharvi, Laxman Kharvi and Shekar Kharvi, fishermen from Navunda were part of a group of 11 fishermen who had gone fishing in the boat. R Chethan, superintendent of police, Coastal Security Police said professional divers from Murudeshwar pressed to locate the fishermen in the area where the boat capsized drew a blank. Drone was pressed to scout the area to locate the missing fishermen, Chethan noted.
DIG S B Venkatesh, commander, Coast Guard, Karnataka said Indian Coast Guard pressed its fast patrol vessel (FPV) that was patrolling the high seas off Karnataka and Kerala coast to the area to scout for the missing fishermen seawards. Sandeep G S, police inspector, Gangolli CSP station said the FPV was coordinating with coastal security police in keeping a lookout for the missing fishermen from a point as close as it could come near the shore.
Sandeep, citing eyewitness accounts of surviving fishermen said Nagraj who had managed to clamber on board the battered boat after it capsized was the last one to drown. The police official did not discount the possibility of fishermen who drowned getting ensnared in heavy fishing nets on the boat that could have dragged them beneath. The seven who managed to swim ashore were treated in the hospital and discharged after first aid, he said.
In a related development, Kota Shrinivas Poojari, minister for fisheries in a Facebook post who expressed concern at the development and offered condolences to the next of kin of the deceased fisherman. Noting that he had drawn the attention of the chief minister to the incident, Poojari said the government and fisheries department will provide all possible financial assistance to the distraught family and that he would meet them personally on return to Udupi.