ALAPPUZHA: The bodies of the three fishermen, Cleetus, Santhosh and Bernard, missing after their boat collided with an unidentified ship on Thursday off the Alappuzha coast, are yet to be recovered. It is suspected that the bodies may be trapped in the boat ‘Don 1’ which sank after the collision. Police boats from Kochi, Neendakara and Kollam are anchored in the sea, but they don’t have facility for under-water search. Fishermen, searching for the bodies, spotted diesel spill at an area where the boat is believed to have sunk. It is 26-feet deep. Ravi, the srank of the boat ‘Jackson,’ and crew of boats Antony, Don J and Christeena have been in the area trying to fish out the bodies. Ravi told ‘Express’ over phone that from the morning they had searched a vast area, but without any avail.“We have no under-water search equipment. We spread our net and tried to get the boat, but it was futile. Without the help of divers, under- water search is impossible,’’ Ravi said. “The crew of other boats led by sranks Christo, Robert and Brito are anchored in mid-sea and searching for the bodies. Fishermen Ravikumar, Akhil, Anilkumar and Sreekumar are with me in my boat. We will remain here until the bodies are recovered,” Ravi said. All the boats, including Don I, are owned by Jacob Antony and his brothers of Neendakara. Dominic Antony, brother of Jacob Antony, said he had contacted the Kollam DySP and asked for help of Navy divers to fish out the bodies. A special police team led by Alappuzha DySP K Maheshkumar and Ambalappuzha CI P V Baby has begun a probe into the incident. Maheshkumar said that the Coast Guard is the authority to locate the ship.
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