Coastal police launch probe into mid-sea collision

Efforts on to trace merchant vessel that rammed fishing canoe off Kochi coast

The coastal police have launched a probe to trace the merchant vessel that rammed a fibre canoe off Kochi on Sunday.

The incident took place around 12.30 a.m. when the fishing vessel, Divine , owned by one Antoniyar Picha of Thiruvananthapuram, was hit by a Thailand-registered vessel, around 20 nautical miles southwest of the Munambam harbour.

Two fishermen, identified as Martin, 50, and Michale Pillai, 56, of Pozhiyur in Thriuvananthapuram, who were part of the five-member crew on board the canoe, sustained injuries in the accident.

“The fishermen did not see the ship approaching them, as there was heavy rain and wind at that time. All of a sudden, a huge ship emerged out of the waves from behind and scraped past the vessel, throwing two people into the sea,” said Charles George, convener of Matsya Thozhilali Aikya Vedi.

On an alert raised by the crew, a Coast Guard vessel rushed to the scene and rescued the fishermen. The vessel, which suffered damage in the impact of the collision, returned to the Vypeen harbour.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the ship in question was the Thailand-registered

Mayuri Nari , which was on its way to Paradip Port in Odisha from Gujarat. “The ship was present in the area around the time when the collision was reported, and the details given by the boat crew also point to its involvement in the accident. The details have been handed over to the Coast Guard, Navy, and the Mercantile Marine Department for further verification,” said an officer at the Coastal Police Station, Fort Kochi.

The incident, the second hit-and-run case to be reported from the sea in a month, has raised concerns of safety among fishermen here. Earlier on June 7, a merchant vessel had hit a fishing boat around 18 nautical miles west of Munambam, injuring two fishermen.

While merchant vessels move off Kerala in the north-south direction, fishing canoes originating from the coast here operate in the east-west direction, raising the spectre of mid-sea collisions.