Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the state government has urged the Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force to continue search operation till the last missing fisherman is traced.
At the Cabinet briefing here, the chief minister said according to information available with the government 92 fishermen were still missing. When asked about the Latin Archdiocese figure of 201 missing fishermen, the chief minister said as of now he had only received the official information on 92. Other details can be examined subsequently.
The chief minister thanked Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, police, fire force, revenue and other departments for carrying out the safety and rescue operations effectively. “The government appeals to all sections of society, all people cutting across political affiliations to come together and stand with our brethren of coastal areas and support the search and relief operations,” he added.
Pinarayi said the funds for rescue, relief and all other activities will be utilised from the disaster management pool. The state had witnessed bigger disasters earlier like tsunami and Puttingal temple fire in which the casualties were very high.
He said the government will spend money for improving the information system. “The idea is provide information to them when they go out into sea and also to receive input from them. It’s a two-way communication,” he said. When asked about the financial assistance sought from the Centre, the chief minister said the state government would demand a special package.
On the media coverage of the disaster, the chief minister said generally the media was positive. However, the position taken by a section of media was not in consonance with the prevailing public sentiment. It will be better if they introspected about their activities, he said.
Kochi: INS Kalpeni took six fishermen from Kochi and INS Kabra two from Kollam on board on Wednesday for the ongoing search and rescue mission of the missing fishermen. According to release by the Defence department, the local fishermen have been taken to facilitate guided search for missing fishing vessels, based on specific inputs provided by these fishermen. Both naval ships will return to Kochi post completion of the search operations as per guidance offered by the fishermen onboard, the release added.
