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A probe is underway after two Bahrain-based fishermen disappeared after setting out to sea nine days ago.
Indian expatriates Sahaya Celso, 37, and Antony Vincent George, 33, were reported missing by their employer.
The men set sail last Monday on what should have been a two-day voyage.
Their concerned boss, Bahraini Tareq Almajed, who also owns the dhow (BH9102) they were fishing in, has notified the Coastguard.
The fishermen’s families in India have also raised the alarm with their local authorities.
Mr Almajed told the GDN that the men had been working with him for more than 15 years.
“They’re like brothers to me and I’m heartbroken,” he said.
“I don’t know what to tell their families, I don’t know what happened to them. Did they suffer an accident at sea and are they in hospital? Or are they being held by someone? I am clueless and I plead with the authorities to help find my employees.
“I have registered an official incident report with the Coastguard.”
Mr Almajed said he alerted the Coastguard about the missing men on Thursday.
“The men went fishing as usual on Monday morning and they normally come back in two days,” he said.
“They didn’t show up for three days and so on Thursday I reported the matter to the Coastguard and they are still trying to trace the boat.
“The latest I heard from the Coastguard on Saturday was that they had received information from their counterparts in Qatar that they had spotted a Bahraini dhow on their radar.
“They told me that the dhow was seen alongside an Iranian boat in Bahrain waters.”
Mr Almajed claimed that some Indian fishermen in Iran had told him on Sunday that a boat had capsized on their border, partly broken and with one engine missing.
“They saw the Bahrain registration number on the boat and also my freezer, which has my initials on it,” he said.
The missing fishermen’s friends in Muharraq expressed shock over the incident.
“Our Indian friends in Iran said they saw a boat on the Iranian border, which looked like a Bahraini dhow,” said an Indian fisherman.
“But the men are still missing and we are anxious.”
Meanwhile, India’s South Asian Fishermen Federation general secretary Father John Churchill has approached the authorities, seeking assistance to help find the men, who he said were the sole breadwinners for their families.
“Sahay has two children, aged nine and four, and Antony has a four-year-old and an 18-months-old baby,” Mr Celso’s cousin David E told the GDN from his hometown.
“We are meeting local officials today to take up our concerns further, we don’t know what to do,” he added.
The men hail from Kadiapattinam in Kanyakumari district.
raji@gdnmedia.bh
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