KARACHI: Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Tuesday recovered bodies of the four remaining fishermen who had been missing since last week after their fishing vessel capsized in the Arabia Sea, the Pakistani military said.
On March 4, 45 fishermen from Ibrahim Hyderi area of Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi set out on a fishing journey aboard a vessel, Assad, according to survivor accounts. The boat capsized at 3am off Hajjamro Creek due to technical issues, compounded by adverse weather conditions.
A total of 14 fishermen had been missing after the incident. Of them, bodies of ten were recovered by the navy and the PMSA on Monday, following a days-long search at sea that involved aircraft, helicopters, ships and speed boats.
“Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency have recovered bodies of the remaining four missing fishermen from the open sea,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing, said in a statement.
The development comes days after relatives of the missing fishermen expressed fears that tidal waves might have carried them into Indian territorial waters.
On Sunday, Agha Rafiullah, a Pakistani lawmaker from Karachi’s coastal belt, told a Pakistani newspaper that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had assured that his government would raise the matter with Indian authorities. But when asked if Pakistan had sought Indian assistance in locating the missing fishermen, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Monday no such request had been made by Islamabad.
“The bodies of all the missing fishermen have been recovered from the murky sea and handed over to the concerned civil authorities,” the ISPR said further in its statement.
“The joint search operation of Pakistan Navy and the PMSA for the missing fishermen is a reflection of their commitment to ensure the safety of fishermen in high seas.”
Last month, Pakistan Navy rescued nine Indian seamen who were stranded in a disabled tug that had been en route to Sharjah.
The vessel, Ocean Tug SAS-5 registered at St. Kitts & Nevis, had been disabled for days near the Indian coast after a failure of its electric generators at a position 167 nautical miles southeast of the Pakistani port city of Karachi, according to Pakistan Navy.
The professional and timely response by Pakistan Navy and the PMSA was highly acknowledged and lauded by the salvaged crew of the vessel.