The Indian Navy on Wednesday deployed its surface and air assets for the search and rescue of nine missing fishermen of a Kerala-registered mechanised fishing boat which with 14 crew on board capsized off the Mangaluru coast in the early hours of Tuesday.
Three fishermen died, while two crew members were rescued after the boat Rabah suffered a collision with a merchant ship carrying the Singapore flag mv APL Le Havre at about 2 a.m. about 43 nautical miles west off Mangaluru coast.
A press release said that Indian Naval Ships Tillanchang and Kalpeni along with naval aircraft from Goa were deployed in the area to augment search and rescue efforts of Indian Coast Guard vessels. To assist in the rescue efforts, INS Subhadra, a patrol vessel, sailed out from Karwar with a diving team embarked. Two specialist diving teams undertook snagline search in the area in an effort to locate the fishing craft that had sunk, it said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police, Karnataka Coastal Security Police, Udupi, Chethan R. said that two of the three bodies were handed over to their relatives on Wednesday. The two survivors were also handed over to the owner of the boat Mamentakathu Jaffar of Beypore in Kozhikode.
The bodies of Dasan Channappa and Alexander Syrang were taken to Tamil Nadu after post-mortem. The body of Manikyadas from West Bengal will be handed over to the concerned after a COVID-19 test on Thursday. It will be flown to West Bengal.
The Coastal Security Police have registered a case under Sections 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) and 280 (navigating a vessel in rash and negligent manner), Mr. Chethan added.
Of the fishermen on board, seven each were from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
The two survivors are Sunil Das (34) of West Bengal and Velumurugan (37) of Kalirajapuram, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
