KARACHI: Remaining bodies of four missing fishermen were recovered in a joint search and rescue operation conducted by the Pakistan Navy (PN) in coordination with the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Tuesday.

A fishing boat, Al-Assad, with an onboard crew of 45 had capsized in open sea off Hajmbro Creek on March 5 due to bad weather. As many as 31 fishermen were rescued. A search operation launched to trace 14 missing fishermen culminated on the recovery of their bodies.

The navy said that the operation started on March 5 in open sea soon after the fishermen were reported missing. Despite challenging conditions, PN and PMSA deployed their aircraft, helicopters, ships and speedboats to locate and recover all the missing fishermen.

One day prior, they recovered 10 bodies of the 14 fishermen still reported missing. On Tuesday, the bodies of the remaining four fishermen were also recovered from the open sea.

According to Kamal Shah of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, two bodies were found and recovered in the early hours of Tuesday while two more were found around noon.

According to PFF’s Karachi President Majeed Motani, two bodies were spotted drifting near the seashore by local fishermen at Keti Bunder sometime after midnight before being pulled out by the PN and PMSA. “They were 20-year-old Ahmed from Juma Goth in Ibrahim Hyderi and 48-year-old Abdul Rahim from Korangi 2,” Motani said.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2024