Thiruvananthapuram: On the eve of Christmas, the official number of those missing due to cyclone Ockhi is 131 and the number of dead was 74. Fisheries minister J. Mercykutty Amma had earlier said last week that the real figures can only be confirmed after Christmas, as boats that stay longer on the sea were expected to return only on the day.
Toll of fishermen to go up
With no news of anymore boats coming ashore the official figures might go up, revenue officials said. Around 40 bodies were yet to be identified and there were unconfirmed reports that two more bodies were fished out from seas off Poonthura coast on Sunday. As per the estimates of Latin Catholic church over 175 fishermen were still missing. The intense search operations involving aircraft has ended as new bodies were not being spotted from the air.
