Hong Kong cargo ship hit fishing boat off Kollam coast: Navy
- The Hong Kong-registered vessel is now in international waters, about 400 nautical miles away from Kochi, a Navy spokesperson said
- As the ship is now much beyond the range of Dornier jet, long-range surveillance aircraft P8I would be used to divert it to the Indian coast
- A naval ship from Port Blair has also been deployed to move Ksl Ang Yang to the Andaman islands, if it is reluctant to turn back towards Kochi
FollowThe cargo ship that hit a fishing boat off the Kollam coast on Saturday was "most likely" a Hong Kong-registered vessel, the Navy said, adding that the vessel would be asked to berth at the nearby port for further investigation.Â
The ship is now in international waters, about 400 nautical miles away from Kochi, a Navy spokesperson said, a day after the incident which destroyed the boat. Six fishermen onboard were rescued by nearby boats.Â
"The ship involved has been identified most likely to be Ksl Ang Yang, registered at Hong Kong, and it is heading southward," PTI quoted the Navy spokesperson as saying.Â
Read more:Â Foreign vessel rams into fishing boat off Kollam coast
As the ship is now much beyond the range of Dornier jet, long-range surveillance aircraft P8I would be used to divert it back to the Indian coast. Since this involved flying over the Sri Lankan air space, permission of the neighbouring country has to be obtained, the spokesperson added.Â
Besides this, a naval ship from Port Blair is being deployed to move Ksl Ang Yang to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, if it is reluctant to turn back towards Kochi. If the ship failed to cooperate, it would have to be handled as a "legal case involving the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)", the spokesperson said.Â
The fishing boat was hit by the cargo vessel, about 40 nautical miles from Kollam, in international waters on Saturday. All six fishermen, one Keralite and five from Tamil Nadu, on board the boat were rescued by other boats nearby and brought to the shore safely. The boat involved in the incident has also been brought to the Neendakara fishing harbour in Kollam district.Â
The incident came close on the heels of two fishermen being killed and 11 others getting injured when a Panama cargo ship hit their fishing boat off the Kochi coast in June.Â
Kerala had also witnessed another fatal incident involving a foreign ship in February 2012 when two Indian fishermen from the state were shot dead by two Italian Marines on board an oil tanker.
