Pakistan: 38 fishermen missing in the Arabian Sea

KARACHI, Pakistan

Rescue teams, backed by helicopters, launched a fresh operation in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday to trace over three dozen fishermen and their boats missing after a massive storm that hit Pakistan’s port city of Karachi two days ago, officials said.

Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) ships and boats backed by helicopters scrambled in a radius of 200-250 kilometers (124-155 miles) in the Arabia Sea to spot 38 fishermen and several boats missing since Monday.

Faisal Edhi, head of Edhi Foundation -- country’s one of the largest relief and rescue NGO -- told Anadolu Agency that rescuers could not spot any missing fisherman or boat during Wednesday’s operation.

An Edhi Foundation helicopter is also taking part in the rescue operation.

The PMSA, for its part, said in a statement that the rescue operation would continue, as some 13 fishing boats had sunk due to heavy winds in the Arabian Sea.

“All efforts are being made to spot and rescue the missing fishermen”, the statement said.

So far, it added, the rescuers had managed to rescue nearly 250 fishermen and 8 boats since Monday.

The number of missing fishermen could be far more than the estimations as there was no proper record of the crew of missing boats, an official of the state-run Fisheries department said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.