8 fishermen who had gone missing from Andhra's Machilipatnam on May 8 traced. (Representational)
Eight fishermen who had gone missing on May 8, two days before Cyclone Asani struck the coast in Andhra Pradesh's Machilipatnam, were traced on Thursday and brought back to safety, the police said.
Krishna district Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal said the fishermen had ventured into the sea on a mechanised boat from Andhra Pradesh's Machilipatnam coast without informing the fisheries department even though the community was advised against venturing out to sea in view of the impending cyclone.
After the cyclone reached the Machilipatnam coast on May 10, they panicked and somehow reached a safe place, and informed their families, the senior police official said.
Their families then approached the fisheries department and the Marine Police.
The marine and local police launched a joint operation and they traced the fishermen on May 11 near Malakayalanka village, 150km from the Machilipatnam coast.
All the eight fishermen safely reached the Machilipatnam coast this evening with the help of Krishna district Police, he added.
The senior police official said the eight fishermen - S Rambabu, P Suribabu, V Ramana, K Sathyam, G Apparao, P Kameswara Rao, S Bhavani and P Apparao - belong to Gilakaladindi area in Machilipatnam city.
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