Nirmala Sitharaman to Lok Sabha: 400 TN fishermen still missing after Ockhi

In a written response, Sitharaman said the Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard saved the lives of 821 people until December 20. Another 24 lives were saved by other agencies, including merchant navy vessels. Of the total 845 people rescued, 453 were from Tamil Nadu, 362 from Kerala, and 30 from the Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands.

The majority of those untraceable are from Tamil Nadu (400) and Kerala (261), the worst-hit States. Meanwhile, on the eve of the visit of the four-member Central team to inspect the cyclone hit Kanniyakumari district a new flex banner, with the names and photos of the missing fishermen, was placed at Vallavilai coastal village in Kanniyakumari district.

The Central team will also visit Chennai. To assess the damage caused by cyclone ‘Ockhi, a four-member central team is scheduled to visit Kanniyakumari district on Thursday and Friday and during its inspection would visit various coastal villages. In Chinnathurai coastal village, a flex banner with names and photographs of the missing fishermen was put up.

The banner said 33 fishermen from Vallavilai and another 37 fishermen from other areas who went to fish from Vallavilai were still missing. Local fishermen said special mass, prayer session, would be conducted for the missing fishermen at Vallavilai.

Though confusion prevailed on the actual number of missing fishermen from Kanniyakumari District Collector Sajjan Singh R Chavan, said that 237 fishermen were yet to be traced.

Out of 237 missing fishermen, 170 hailed from Kanniyakumari district. Out of the remaining 67 fishermen, 41 were from other districts of Tamil Nadu. Out of 41 fishermen, 19 were from Cuddalore, 17 from Nagapattinam, four from Thoothukudi and one from Rameswaram.

Out of 26 fishermen from other states, 17 hailed from Kerala, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh and Assam, respectively.