Bhubaneswar, Nov 20 (IANS) Orissa has verified to Goa the identity of 14 people, who had gone missing last week in Cyclone Phyan that hit the Arabian sea, an official said Friday. They were working as fishermen in Goa.
“On Wednesday, Goa’s fishery department asked us to verify details of 16 people and if any of them have returned home,” Sundergarh sub-collector Bimalendu Ray told IANS.

“We have collected information about 14 of them. They belong to different villages under Subdega and Balisankara block,” he said.

They had migrated to Goa and not returned yet. Ray said the local administration has confirmed their identities and informed the government.

The identity of two others missing has not yet been ascertained, he said.

As many as 16 migrant labourers from Orissa’s Sundergarh district, some 400 km from here, were among dozens who reportedly got trapped and went missing after Cyclone Phyan passed through the Arabian sea.

Orissa government has sent a senior official of the state labour department to Goa for other details, Revenue and Disaster Management minister S.N. Patro said.