Search on for missing body

Mangalore, dhns:The efforts of the Coast Guard team, district administration and local fishermen to trace the missing sailor’s body in and around Thannirbavi near went in vain as they could not trace the body till late night on Sunday. The missing sailor, a motorman in the ship, has been identified as Tadesse Deriket (42) from Eritrea in Africa.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Coast Guard Commandant Manoj V Baadkar said that the Coast Guard deployed the services of ‘Varuna,’ a much bigger ship than ‘Savithribai Phule’ (used on Saturday’s search operation), specially brought from Cochin.

At the same time, a Coast Guard helicopter that had arrived from Cochin, too searched the area between 2.30 pm and 5 pm, but in vain, Commandant Badkar said.

“There is a possibility of a person surviving upto 48 hours in the sea,” he said and added that the Coast Guard will continue its rescue operations on Monday.

When contacted, Panambur Sub Inspector Pramod Kumar said that the doctors at the Wenlock hospital performed the post-mortem of the two deceased - Meheri G Hghziabhier (45) and Deffamariam Berhame (62) (both from Eritrea) - on Sunday.

While Meheri was a deck-operator, Berhame was a cook in the ill-fated ship. “The bodies have been kept in the Wenlock hospital mortury,” he said and added that the bodies will be taken to Africa when the rescued crew members leave the City.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said that the district administration will use “oil absorbers” to prevent the spread of oil from the wrecked ship.

The ship is said to be containing about 116 MT of heavy oil, 38 MT diesel and 1,000 litres of lubricant oil besides 8,000 MT of furnace slag.

hough the oil has started spilling, Coast Guard Commandant Manoj Badkar said that it was only bilge oil and some furnace slag.

CM cancels night stay

Gulbarga, dhns: The monsoon may have blessed the district with bountiful rain but it has ‘depressed’ the people of Kannalli and surrounding villages following cancellation of the much-publicised night stay of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy at Kannalli on Sunday.

The message of cancellation of chief minister’s visit both in neighbouring Bijapur and Gulbarga districts was flashed even as District in-charge Minister Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, accompanied by media persons and Surpur MLA Rajugowda, were busy making preparations for hosting the chief minister at the village.

Rajugowda however, says he will invite the chief minister again.