In his letter to the Chief Minister, Kamal said that the state government should insist the Centre get due compensation from the container ship that rammed the fishing vessel and action should be taken against the merchant ship for over speeding.

The actor-politician said that of the 14 fishermen who ventured out on the fishing vessel from Veppur near Kozhikode on April 11, seven were from Tamil Nadu and the rest from West Bengal. The collision happened on April 13 when the Singapore based APL LE Havre ship hit them 55 nautical miles off Managluru Coast. The bodies of six fishermen, including two from Colachel were recovered while two persons, including Velmurugan from Tamil Nadu was rescued. The rest of the six fishermen were missing.

The families of the missing fishermen were left to suffer as the state government would not provide any relief without a death certificate, he said, adding that as per the norms, a missing fisherman would be declared dead only after seven years.

“The government should consider changing the rules to issue a death certificate and reduce the duration to six months,” he said. He also demanded the government to provide an automatic identification system and MF-HF Radio telephone to mechanised boats to help them reach out during a disaster or emergency.