The locating of ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ wreckage is tragic: MLA Bhat

Team Udayavani, May 4, 2019, 1:26 PM IST

Udupi: “Finding of the remains of Suvarna Tribhuja fishing boat after a gap of four months of its disappearance is tragic. It appears that the seven missing fishermen may not be alive. Our delegation will soon be meeting defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and urge her to order investigation about the possible involvement of warship, INS Kochi, in the mishap. There is a general suspicion about the warship’s involvement as the lower section of INS Kochi was damaged around the time the boat went missing that day. The union government has to pay compensation if the navy ship had collided with the shipping boat. The state government also should pay six lac rupees each as compensation,” said Udupi MLA K Raghupati Bhat speaking at a press meet at the fishermen’s community hall, Malpe on Friday May 3.

“The operation began with ten people. Use of SONAR technology since Monday morning for more than seven hours helped in finding the missing boat. Though the technology was used during last operations, it had proved futile. The damage to a portion of the boat is visible. The remains of the boat were found on Wednesday. The defence minister has kept her promise in between election code of conduct and responded to the families of fishermen,” he said.

“Fishermen and Capt Jayaprakash Mendon identified the point. A video recording of the search operation and photo reports will be submitted to the district officials,” informed the MLA.

“Mangaluru fisheries college professor, Jayaprakash Mendon, explained the operation. As the boat had toppled, it is not possible to say to which direction it was heading to. The remains of the boat were found at 1.5 nautical miles away and in 65 meters depth. Finding the bodies of seven fishermen after four months of disappearance is difficult. The concerned police officials should issue confirmation about it,” said Mr Bhat.