Ullal: Fishing boat drowns at sea; 6 fishermen missing
Mangaluru: In an unfortunate incident, a big purse seine fishing boat that had ventured on a fishing expedition reportedly drowned at sea, several nautical miles away near the western part of the sea at Ullal. The 6 fishermen on-board are allegedly still missing.
The fishing boat by the name ‘Shri Raksha’, which belonged to Prashant, a resident of Bolar, had ventured into the sea for a fishing expedition before daybreak on Monday. There were reportedly 25 fishermen on the boat. The crew had successfully caught a large number of fish and were recovering the dragnet at 6.30 PM to wrap the day’s work when the boat reportedly capsized due to the ferocity of the waves.
As the purse seine Commercial Boat is largely composed of steel, it has steeped into the ocean. Out of the 25 fishermen on-board, 19 of them have safely reached land. The fishermen’s leader Nitin Kumar has told ‘Vartha Bharathi’ correspondents that there is a possibility that the remaining 6 fishermen, who are missing, could have been caught in the dragnet.
On Tuesday, several boats were dispatched to the site of the accident to help in the search and rescue operations undertaken to find the missing fishermen. Sources reveal that the rescue operations are still underway.
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T'gana BC panel seeks reports over infant's death, family alleges caste abuse
Hyderabad (PTI): The Telangana Commission for Backward Classes on Monday sought reports from state government officials on the death of an infant following alleged assault and caste abuse against her family members in Nagarkurnool district while visiting a temple fair.
In separate letters, Commission Chairman G Niranjan urged Endowments Department Commissioner S Harish and Nagarkurnool district Collector Badavath Santhosh to furnish the reports within three days.
Niranjan drew the officials' attention to media reports on the death of the two-month-old baby at Kummera village in the district and alleged caste discrimination and denial of entry to the temple fair to the baby's family belonging to a BC community.
BJP OBC Morcha's state unit president G Anand Goud alleged inadequate response by the police in the incident and demanded a transparent investigation into the incident.
Alleging that the deceased baby's father was attacked in the incident, he also demanded action against the attackers.
Goud told reporters that BJP's state unit president N Ramachander Rao would visit the village on February 24 and meet the baby's family members.
Meanwhile, a BRS delegation met DGP B Shivadhar Reddy and demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the incident.
The BRS leaders sought action against a person who allegedly attacked the infant's parents.
BC associations have held protests over the past few days regarding the alleged caste discrimination against the deceased infant's family members.
Police said on Sunday that four persons were arrested in connection with the cases registered after the family alleged that the baby died following an "assault" by a group of villagers. The family also alleged that they were abused in the name of caste in the incident on February 18.
However, a villager, part of the group, lodged a counter-complaint with the police the same day, alleging that he was attacked with stones during a scuffle with the family, sustaining a head injury, following which a case was registered.
The infant died on February 21 and her mother, who belongs to an SC community, also lodged a complaint alleging her daughter died due to the physical assault on the family by some villagers, police said.
