MADURAI: Amid the vagaries of cyclones elsewhere, six fishermen who ventured into the sea off the Threspuram coast in Thoothukudi last week, stranded mid-sea after engine failure and faulty communications devices, are experiencing the everyday suffering of the fisherfolk.

Sources said local fishermen have rushed to their rescue after being alerted by the Idindhakarai fishermen about their location. Three boats have been rushed to rescue them as we don't want to wait for authorities to respond, said F Robert Villavarayar, president of Threspuram Country Boats Fishermen Association. The fishermen stranded mid-sea close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) set out to sea on November 21 and were scheduled to return to shore on November 26, he said.

Some fishermen on board from Idinthakarai, a coastal hamlet in neighbouring Tirunelveli, reportedly spotted the stranded fishermen in the middle of the sea on Friday. The stranded fishermen are reportedly safe. The fishing boat is stranded 60 nautical miles off Tiruchendur without any working communication device, which has put the lives of the crew at risk.

Later in the afternoon, the Indian Coast Guard informed the District Administration that those stranded were located with the aid of a Distress Alert Transmitter. But families and fellow fishermen at Threspuram aren't willing to wait till the official rescue and are making efforts on their own.

Fishermen associations have appealed to the government to provide exclusive rescue boats for use under such circumstances. They want such boats in the hands of fishermen so that they can launch missions on their own without waiting for the authorities to intervene, which they say usually takes a long time.

Robert Villavarayar said the demand for the rescue boat has been pending for several years. Such empowerment will go a long way toward quickly launching missions to save fishermen, he says, even as the community is keeping its fingers crossed for their brethren to be saved from the seas.