Pakistan: At least 70 Karachi fishing boats missing at sea amid tropical cyclone warning

At least 70 fishing boats are missing at the sea amid tropical cyclone warnings in Pakistan. Reportedly, all the fishing boats sailing from Karachi were recalled by Pakistan authorities, given the risk associated with a tropical cyclone. The monitoring and rescue centres have been created by Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and the Fishermen Cooperative Society, ANI cited a Samaa News report.

According to ANI, Nasir Boneri, manager of the cooperative society, 165 fishing boats were present at sea when the weather started "worsening". Boneri added that the launches there were unable to reach Karachi might have landed on jetties in Pasni, Ormara and Balochistan. "There were at least 165 fishing boats at sea when the weather started worsening," ANI quoted Nasir Boneri as saying. 

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued a warning for a cyclonic storm that will likely develop along the Sindh-Makran coast within the next few hours. On September 30, the Pakistan Meteorological Department issued the latest advisory where the Met department said, "the depression over the northeast Arabian Sea has moved west-northwestward at a speed of 20km/h during last 12 hours and now lies at latitude 23.0N and longitude 67.8E, at a distance of about 240km east-southeast of Karachi", ANI cited a report by Geo News. The Met department has advised the fishermen to not go into the sea from September 30 to October 3.

Furthermore, the Pakistan Met department has predicted the possibility of rain, wind, thunderstorms in Sindh due to the prevailing weather conditions, reported Geo News. Moreover, the cities that will be affected by the weather conditions include Karachi, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thaparker, Umerkot, Sanghar, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Nosheroferoz, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Dadu and Ghotki from September 30 to October 2. As per the Geo News report, the Met department has predicted the possibility of rain, wind, thunderstorms in parts of Balochistan, that include Khuzdar, Kech, Lasbela, Gwadar, Panjgur, Awaran, from September 30 to October 3. The Met department has assured that the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre, Karachi, is closing monitoring the weather conditions.  

Inputs from ANI

Image: AP/RepresentativeImage