One person died and six others were missing after their boat capsized in the sea on Saturday.
Nine persons left New Mangalore Port in a boat on Friday to carry out maintenance work at the single point mooring facility, which is located 17 km from the port.
As they were returning to the port on Saturday morning, the boat was caught in the rough sea and capsized. The body of a crew member was found near Kaup beach in Udupi district and two others were rescued.
The damaged boat was found in Katipatna of Padubidri in Udupi district. A search operation was on to find the missing crew members of the boat, the police said.
The tug boat was contracted by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) for its single point mooring facility.
In a statement, MRPL said, “We are pained to inform that one tug vessel, named Alliance, which belongs to M/s Underwater Services Company Ltd, with nine of their men on board faced distress today. This company assists us in cargo unloading near our SPM, and functions in coordination with the port. Two of the nine men have survived and the rest are missing.”
The company's cargo operation was completed on Friday and the vessel was supposed to return on the same day. “However it started only on Saturday morning and had to face distress,” said the statement.
