Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Wednesday announced a solatium of Rs. 20 lakh to families of each of the 21 fishermen, reported missing in the Arabian Sea during Cyclone Tauktae. These fishermen from Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and Kanniyakumari districts went missing in two incidents during Cyclone Tauktae last month and the search and rescue operations, involving the Coast Guard, could not locate them. Considering the poor financial conditions of the families of these fishermen, the Chief Minister has sanctioned Rs. 4.20 crore to be paid as solatium, an official release said. Following an alert issued by the India Meteorological Department on May 13 about Cyclone Tauktae, 246 fishing boats in the Arabian Sea returned to safety. However, there were reports of two incidents wherein 21 fishermen went missing. A boat from Nagapattinam drowned near Lakshadweep and nine fishermen on board went missing.
During a search and rescue operation that followed, Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram and two helicopters were involved. Another fishing boat with 23 fishermen that undertook the search too could not locate the missing fishermen. In another incident, a boat from Kozhikode in Kerala left Beypore fishing harbour on May 5 and went missing during the cyclone. Of the 16 fishermen on board, 12 were from Kanniyakumari district. The Coast Guard undertook a search to locate the missing fishermen. Despite continuous efforts involving the Coast Guard’s ship and aircraft, the missing fishermen could not be located. Mr. Stalin had written to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh urging to locate the missing fishermen in both these incidents.
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