Sri Lankan Navy commences search operation to find missing Indian fisherman: official

The incident occurred near Neduntheevu late Monday night when the Lankan naval vessel rammed into the fishermen's boat

The Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday said it “rescued” two fishermen from an Indian fishing vessel that was sinking, while “poaching in Sri Lankan waters”

The Sri Lankan Navy has begun a search operation to find an Indian fisherman who went missing after the boat he was in along with two others was hit by a naval vessel of the island nation, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred near Neduntheevu late Monday night when the Lankan naval vessel rammed into the fishermen's boat, throwing three of the occupants into the sea in the impact.

While two of them were immediately rescued by the Lankan personnel, another fisherman could not be saved immediately and a search is on to locate him, the Sri Lankan Navy said in a statement.

“Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) managed to rescue two fishermen aboard a sunken Indian fishing boat poaching in Sri Lankan waters across the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) northwest of the Kovilan Lighthouse in the evening of October 18,” the statement said.

The fishermen hailed from Kottaipattinam in Puthukottai district of Tamil Nadu.