Pakistan: 38 fishermen missing in the Arabian Sea

By Aamir Latif</p> <p>KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Rescue teams, backed by helicopters, launched a fresh operation in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday to trace over three dozen fishermen and their boats missing after a massive storm that hit Pakistan’s port city of Karachi two days ago, officials said.</p> <p>Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) ships and boats backed by helicopters scrambled in a radius of 200-250 kilometers (124-155 miles) in the Arabia Sea to spot 38 fishermen and several boats missing since Monday.</p> <p>Faisal Edhi, head of Edhi Foundation — country’s one of the largest relief and rescue NGO — told Anadolu Agency that rescuers could not spot any missing fisherman or boat during Wednesday’s operation.</p> <p>An Edhi Foundation helicopter is also taking part in the rescue operation.</p> <p>The PMSA, for its part, said in a statement that the rescue operation would continue, as some 13 fishing boats had sunk due to heavy winds in the Arabian Sea.</p> <p>“All efforts are being made to spot and rescue the missing fishermen”, the statement said.</p> <p>So far, it added, the rescuers had managed to rescue nearly 250 fishermen and 8 boats since Monday.</p> <p>The number of missing fishermen could be far more than the estimations as there was no proper record of the crew of missing boats, an official of the state-run Fisheries department said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.