MANGALURU,KARWAR: A day after a Singapore-registered ship collided with a fishing vessel, the search operation continued for the second day on Wednesday for the missing fishermen. Fourteen fishermen, hailing from Kerala, went missing after the ‘Singapore MV APL Le Havre’ container ship hit the ‘IFB Rabah’ about 45 nautical miles from New Mangalore Port near Panambur on Tuesday.
The Indian Coast Guard had found three bodies of fishermen on Tuesday night and rescued two others, while nine fishermen are still missing. The deceased fishermen are Alexander Syrang, his uncle (name not known) and Manik Das from West Bengal. The accident is said to have occurred on early on Tuesday. Sunil Das (34) from West Bengal and Velmurukan (37) from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu are the survivors.
The rescue effort by the Coast Guard and Coastal Security Police has been delayed as the fishing boat has completely submerged in the sea. The Indian Navy too has deployed its surface and air assets for the Search and Rescue (SAR) mission. Indian Naval Ships Tillanchang and Kalpeni, along with naval aircraft from Goa, were deployed in the area to augment the efforts.
The INS Subhadra, a patrol vessel, also sailed from Karwar with a diving team on board. The ship arrived on scene in the early hours of Wednesday and two specialist diving teams are undertaking snagline search in the area in an effort to locate the sunk fishing craft.
Sharing their tragic experience, Sunil and Velumurugan said that since the catch was less, they decided to venture deep into the sea. “We were sleeping, when we suddenly heard a loud noise. Our boat started drowning and we fell into the sea. However, we managed to get to the top of the boat. The ship which hit our boat returned and rescued us,” said a visibly upset Sunil.