Cyclone Ockhi: Kerala govt says search operations 'intensified' to trace 92 missing fishermen

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Tuesday said intensified search and rescue operations are on to trace the 92 fishermen missing in high seas after Cyclone Ockhi hit the state’s coast on 29 November.

‘Operation Synergy,’ a joint rescue mission by the navy, the Air Force, Coast Guard and state fisheries department had so far rescued 252 fishermen stranded in the seas in the aftermath of the cyclone.

Besides this, several fishermen had reached ports and harbours in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Lakshdweep, the state minister for fisheries Mercykutty said.

With this, more than 1,000 fishermen had reached shores safely, she said.

On the cyclone-related deaths, the minister said of the 25 deaths reported so far, 21 were fishermen.

A total of 292 fishermen had gone for fishing on 29 November from the Thiruvananthapuram coastal region and out of that 200 persons have already been rescued, she noted.

“Officially 92 fishermen are still missing…Rescue work is going with more intensity and by widening the area for search,” she said adding, however, local people have put the number of missing persons as more than 100.

Mercykutty said the state government has also decided to open central control rooms in Kochi also along with the one functioning here to provide rescue mission-related information.

According to government medical college sources, as many as 41 fishermen, who were rescued, are now undergoing treatment there till this morning.

On Monday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had visited cyclone-hit areas in Thiruvananthapuram and assured the state all help.

She had also asserted that rescue operations would continue till every missing fishermen was brought back safely.