Poonthra: Clutching her four daughters, Selvi has been praying for a week at the St Thomas Church in Poonthura near the Kerala state capital for a miracle.

She wants God to bring back her husband, one of the 29 fishermen missing from the fisher village in the high seas after Cyclone Ockhi hit Kerala’s coast.

She is one of the many women who turn up at the church every morning to offer prayers and light candles, unwilling to give up hope that their loved ones would come home.

“Where will I go with my four children? My elder daughter is only seven-year-old and the other two are aged five and three,” Selvi said weeping. “I have no house of my own… My husband’s earning from fishing was our only source of income,” she said.

A pall of gloom has descended on the area which otherwise should have been bustling with activities as Christmas is round the corner, Father Justin Jude, the vicar of the church said.

The church has put up a flex board in the front carrying images of the missing men.

Twenty-nine boats with 90 fishermen had sailed to the sea from here on the wee hours of November 29. While 57 returned safely, four lost their lives and 29 are still missing, the vicar said.

Of the lucky ones to make it ashore safely, Suresh, a 40- year-old fisherman, said it was the “hand of God” which saved him from death. “It is really a second life for me. The compass of my boat had started moving erratically as the boat was literally caught in the path of the cyclone,” Suresh, who returned with two colleagues on the day of Ockhi hit the state, told the Press Trust of India.

One of his close relatives was still missing.

“I am going to sea for the past ten years… I have seen and experienced different stormy weathers… But, what we saw and faced this time was extraordinary and very powerful,” he said.

About 38 people had gone fishing in trawlers on November 25 and 26. But, there is hope that they will come back as 12 of them returned safely on Wednesday, church sources said, adding from nearby Adimalathura, 12 people are missing, of which 10 are from a single family.

Twenty-six-year-old Shyam, who had ventured into the sea with 12 others from Kochi port on November 28 said they were rescued by fishermen who came on another boat and were taken to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.

“The locals gave some money and put us on a train to Kerala… We reached home yesterday,” he said.

His two elder sisters were ecstatic when they heard that he was safe.

However, for Pushpa Rani the wait is yet to end. She goes to church each day without fail and prays till dusk for the safe return of for her husband, Silva Pillai (42), the sole breadwinner of the family.

The frail woman, who is not taking any food, said she and her three children aged 17, 15 and 13 were clueless about their future.