Sea escape from Chennai ends in quarantine in A.P.

27 workers attempted to dodge lockdown by taking a boat

21/04/2020, STAFF REPORTER

Red signal: The workers from Chennai waiting on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Special Arrangement

Twenty-seven migrant workers — 10 from Odisha and 17 from Andhra Pradesh — made a daring five-day sea journey in a fishing boat from Chennai to dodge the continuing lockdown and reach their homes.

They travelled around 1,000 km in the Bay of Bengal, but ended up in the hands of waiting officials.

On receiving information about this group, the administrations of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were keeping track of its movement. On Monday morning, their boat was brought to the coast at Donkuru, in Andhra Pradesh, around 35 km from Berhampur in Odisha.

According to Ganjam district collector Vijay Amruta Kulange all the workers have been quarantined in Andhra Pradesh.

Factories shut

Sources said they were working in different factories in Chennai and had been unable to return home due to the lockdown. Their factories had closed. Most of them belonged to the fisherman community. They pooled their savings to buy a fishing boat for ₹1.6 lakh.