Four fishermen drowned and two others were missing after their boat capsized in backwaters in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh, the police said on Thursday.
Officials said that a group of 19 fishermen were returning to Urlagonditippa village after fishing in the sea late on Wednesday night when the boat was caught in rough waters and capsized in the Upputeru stream.
While 13 of them managed to swim to safety, six others went missing. Four bodies were fished out on Thursday, Machilipatnam Rural Circle Inspector N Kondaiah said.
The deceased were in the age group of 50 to 62 and belonged to Pallepalem and Urlagonditippa villages of Kruthivennu mandal.
A massive search operation has been launched to trace the other two fishermen, Fisheries Joint Director Sheik Lal Mohammed said.
Minister for Transport Perni Venkataramaiah visited the families of the victims and announced Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia each to the kin under a government welfare scheme for fishermen.
Earlier in the week, it was reported that around 60 fishermen from Andhra Pradesh were stranded in Mumbai due to the nation-wide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, Leader of Opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly N Chandrababu Naidu had urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to provide relief to them. Responding to his plea, Thackeray said the fishermen have been located and food supplies are being given to them.
The fishermen hailed from Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh and were stranded on Mumbai's Madh island.
"They have adequate shelter, but are in shortage of food. Arrangements are being made to send them food supplies. Also rest assured that they will be provided with sufficient food till the time they are in Madh island," Thackeray said.
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