Boats, fishermen missing in cyclone-hit Arabian Sea off Indian coast

NEW DELHI, Nov. 11 -- About 80 fishing trawlers, with an average of 10 men in each, have been missing in cyclone-hit Arabian Sea off the western Indian coast, organizations of fishermen along India's west coast said on Wednesday.

As Cyclone Phyan intensified and tore northwards, slated to make landfall along the north Maharashtra-south Gujarat coast, there were reports of boats missing at sea, despite repeated warnings from the authorities over the last few days that no fisherman should venture out.

"Fifty fishing boats with a total estimated complement of about500 fishermen are still out at sea and are on the path of the cyclone headed this way," Gopal Tandel, president of the Daman Machimar Sangh (fishermen's association) said over phone.

Daman is a small coastal enclave on the Gujarat coast.

"There were about 80 boats out fishing but about 30 of them have either returned or are on their way back," Tandel added.

The Coast Guard authorities sent out a special Dornier aircraft to urge fishing boats to return. Over the last three days, special warnings were being put out by the administration advising fishermen against venturing out to sea.

While there was no information from Maharashtra on any fishing boats missing at sea, fishermen's organizations in Goa said that an estimated 30 trawlers were missing.

The Coast Guard started a search for them.

The patrol vessels are already on the lookout for the trawlers in Goa. The administration has pressed a lookout aircraft into the operation, which will scan the sea off Goa in search of the missing trawlers.