Probe into deadly maritime accident in India

Thiruvananthapuram: The Singapore flagged Indian merchant vessel (MV) Prabhu Daya, which is suspected of ramming a fishing boat off Alappuzha coast on Thursday, is being brought to the Chennai port for detailed examination by the various government agencies.

Two fishermen were killed and three went missing as a result of the accident.

The vessel, which was off the coast of Colombo when the Director General of Shipping summoned it to Chennai port, is expected to reach Chennai this morning. An officer of the Mercantile Marine Department assisted by Coast Guard personnel will board the vessel to question the captain and other crew members, said official sources.

An initial assessment found that the vessel might have been involved in the accident. The two other ships have been under surveillance since Thursday, but it is unlikely they were involved.

Navy and Coast Guard sources said that only an examination would ascertain whether it is the ship which had rammed the fishing boat and escaped from the scene.

R. Kumar, managing director of the Mumbai-based Tolani Shipping which owns Prabhu Daya, said that the company did not think that the ship was involved in anything untoward. He said that the company would fully co-operate with the investigators.

Body retrieved

Meanwhile, the naval divers retrieved the body of one of the three missing fishermen from the accident site yesterday morning. The Navy said that the body of Santhosh, 30, was found entangled in the fishing net by the divers who were searching for the fishing boat Dawn-1 which was damaged in the collision.

The Navy handed over the body to the fishermen who were at the accident site helping the Navy and Coast Guard in the search. The body was taken to the Alappuzha Government Medical College for postmortem. The search continues for the other two missing fishermen.