Kasaragod: The body of 37-year-old K Muhammed Riyas, who fell into the sea while angling at Kasaragod's Keezhur harbour on August 31, was recovered at Azhikode beach in Kodungallur, Thrissur, on Monday, September 9.
For the past nine days, fishermen, residents, Coastal Police, Fire and Rescue personnel, Coast Guard and Navy have been searching the waters off Keezhur for Riyas.
Riyas, who worked as a manager in a purdah shop in Abu Dhabi, picked up angling as a hobby during the Covid lockdown when he was stranded at home at Chemnad, said his neighbour Sulvan.
A month and a half ago, he came home for his elder brother Anwas's housewarming and was supposed to return to Abu Dhabi on September 8.
On August 31, a Saturday, Riyas left home around 5 am for Keezhur Harbour. The breakwater at the estuary where Chandragiri River meets the Arabian Sea is a popular point for anglers.
When other anglers reached the breakwater, they saw an abandoned bag, fishing rod and line, a box of lures or artificial baitfish on the rocks. They also found the key to a scooter parked nearby near the bag.
They immediately alerted the police. Around the same time, Riyas's elder brother Anwas also reached the breakwater because he was not reachable on the phone. He identified the bag as Riyas's.
Soon, a massive search operation was launched. The fisher community deployed their fiberboats and started scanning the sea day and night.
Kasaragod Collector Inbasekar K called in the Coast Guard and the Navy. A helicopter was sent from the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi. But there was no trace of Riyas.
In the morning of Monday, September 9, his family in Chemnad got a call from Kodungallur, 300km away, that the body was found off the Azhikode beach. They rushed there and identified him by the clothes he wore.
Riyas is survived by his wife Siyana, and three daughters, aged seven years, two years and one year, mother Mumtaz and two elder brothers, Habeeb Rahman and Anwas. His father, Moideen Kutty, died when Riyas was three years old.
