Families of fishermen pray for X- mas miracle

Poonthra ( Ker), Dec 6: Clutching her four daughters, Selvi has been praying for a week at the St Thomas church here for a miracle that would bring back her husband, one of the 29 fishermen from here missing in the high seas after Cyclone Ockhi hit the coastal state of Kerala.

She is one of the many women who turn up at the church every morning to offer prayers and light candles, unwilling to give up hope that their loved ones would come home.

“Where will I go with my four children? My elder daughter is only sevenyearold and the other two are aged five and three,” Selvi said weeping.

“I have no house of my own... My husband's earning from fishing was our only source of income," she said. A pall of gloom has descended on the area which otherwise should have been bustling with activities as Christmas is round the corner, Father Justin Jude, the vicar of the church said. The church has put up a flex board carrying images of the missing men in front of it this morning.

Twenty- nine boats with 90 fishermen had sailed to the sea from here on the wee hours of November 29. While 57 returned safely, four lost their lives and 29 are still missing, the vicar said.

Of the lucky ones to make it ashore safely, Suresh, a 40- year- old

fisherman, said it was the "hand of god" which saved him from death.

“It is really a second life for me. The compass of my boat had started moving erratically as the boat was literally caught in the path of the cyclone," Suresh, who returned with two colleagues on the day of Ockhi hit the state, told PTI.

One of was am going to sea for the past ten years... I have seen and experienced different stormy weathers... But, what we saw and faced this time was extraordinary and very powerful,” he said.

About 38 people had gone fishing in trawlers on November 25 and 26. But, there is hope that they will come back as 12 of them returned safely on Wednesday, church sources said, adding from nearby Adimalathura, 12 people are missing, of which 10 are from a single family.

Twenty- six- year- old Shyam, who had ventured into the sea with 12 others from Kochi port on November 28 said they were rescued by fishermen who came on another boat and were taken to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. “The locals gave some money and put us on a train to Kerala... We reached home yon Tuesday,” he said.