Mangalore, September 22: It is the sixth day since the boat mishap at high seas on last Thursday and the chances of recovering the bodies of the five fishermen lost at sea are becoming bleak. Trawl Boat Owners Association committee member Mohan Bengre told TOI that usually bodies are recovered or washed ashore within three days of a mishap.
"The chances of finding the bodies after five days are very slim,'' he added. The lone body recovered on Saturday was that of Abdul Rahiman from Panjimogaru. Bengre says generally as a thumb rule, debris and bodies wash ashore if the spot of occurrence is within three to four nautical miles off the coast. With this incident occurring at high seas, that too 30 nautical miles off the coast the bodies would now have drifted, decomposed and would have become fish meal,'' he said.
Bengre pointed out the rough sea, changing direction of wind and currents would have taken the body far away from the Mangalore coast, probably southwards. He also said even if fishermen find the body now they would not dare to get the body inside their boats as it would be putrefied. Even if someone dared to tie a rope to a part of the body and drag it, there is no guarantee that it would reach the shore due to the state of the body,'' he added. Bengre says only Indian Coast Guard could be of help in such cases. Dr Suresh Shetty, head, Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (KMC) said decomposition of a body depends on many factors though the process in water is slower than in open air.
If the body has a wound or if aquatic animals have bitten the body, chances of getting the bodies intact or otherwise is rare,'' he said. Fisheries deputy director Suresh Kumar Ullal also agrees that finding bodies after so many days after the incident is rare. Of the seven fishermen on board that ill-fated boat, one identified as Vincent survived.
Others whose bodies have not been found are: Narayana Gowda (22) from Koppal, driver Srikanth (42) from Kamalapura, Hospet, Ramkumar Gowda (45) of Vasco Da Gama, Goa, Bishaq alias Vijayakumar from Hubli and Shivakumar. The identity of the last persons is still a suspect as no one has come forward to lodge a complaint about their missing.
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