Orissa government on Tuesday sought the help of Coast Guard to trace 19 fishermen, who are missing in the wake of a cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal, official sources said.
Altogether 34 fishermen from Paradip and Gopalpur had been initially reported missing but 15 have returned.
"We have requested the Coast Guard authorities to help trace these missing fishermen," Revenue Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra said.
Four boats with 22 fishermen were said to be missing after leaving Paradip a few days ago. But two of the boats with nine persons on board came back subsequently, they said.
Similarly, 12 fishermen who had gone to sea from Gopalpur and Badanauliagaon in Ganjam district were reported missing.
But six of them landed near Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
They have since returned to Berhampur by train.
In all, 51 gram panchayats in 14 blocks of eight districts had been affected by the recent heavy rains and floods caused under the influence of the cyclonic storm.
Over 11,000 people had been evacuated to safer places most of whom have started returning to their homes, he said.
Cropped area of about 25,000 ha in the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak had been affected by saline ingression which occurred over the last four days.
