Malpe: The Udupi district police, two police teams aided by 2 fishermen each, left from Malpe and Bhatkal to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and Sindhudurg in Goa 12 am on Friday morning to conduct search operations there. They will be getting assistance from the local fishermen and police there.

Earlier, an operation had been conducted here using a big boat. But since the water level was low in the river, it was not possible for the boat to traverse into some areas. Therefore, this time a 10 hp engine is being used on a small boat to carry out the search operations.

In the Sindhudurgregion where the river meets the sea at Malwan, about 20-30m kms to the east of the location lies a river which is surrounded by hills and is very difficult to pass through. Most of the fishermen suspect that the fishermen may have been held prisoners here. Earlier too, there have been several cases where fishing boats from Malpe have been held captive here for ransom, inform fishermen.

In order to search along the coast of Kerala, the police have already go there and conducted operations, but no positive information has come from there, informs Satish Kunder, president of fishermen’s association.

Since 15 days, deep sea trawlers have stopped venturing out into the sea for fishing and this has led to losses in crores of rupees. Along with fishing, all the other business related to this sector have also stopped. Daily, Rs 5-6 crores of business used to occur at Malpe fisheries port, but since there has been a halt in fishing, crores of rupees have been incurred as losses.

There are no clues about either the boat’s whereabouts or its fishermen, and only hypothetical theories are being floated as of now. Therefore, the prospects of the boat having been hijacked appear to be bright and the home department has asked navy and police personnel of Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and neighbouring states also to keep a close watch on activities on the coast and increase security at these places, sources say.