Tanker splits boat into two

Tanker splits boat into two
Aug 08, 2018 https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/tanker-splits-boat-into-two-250832

Bangalore: Three fishermen died and nine were missing after an oil tanker rammed into their boat off the Kochi coast early on Tuesday, ripping the vessel apart, before sailing away in the pre-dawn darkness.

Among those feared drowned in the Arabian Sea was a man from Calcutta identified as Bikash Das.

Two of the 14 fishermen on the boat, Oceanic, have been rescued - Naren Sarkar, also from Calcutta, and Edwin from Tamil Nadu.

Police sources said the boat, which had set off from Munambam harbour in Kochi on Monday evening, was around 28 nautical miles (a little over 50km) from the coast when the tanker, suspected to be the Mumbai-registered Desh Shakti, hit the vessel around 4am.

Edwin has told the police that the tanker hit the boat from behind when most of the crew were asleep, the impact splitting the smaller vessel into two. The ship then slowed down before gaining speed without making any effort to rescue the fishermen.

The live tracking portal, marinetraffic.com, showed the tanker, scheduled to dock at Basra port in Iraq on August 13, had set sail from Chennai on Friday.

Kerala fisheries minister J. Mercykutty Amma said the government would bear all medical expenses of the injured fishermen and initiate action against the ship's crew. "We will conduct a proper investigation and take stringent action," she said.

The dead fishermen, whose bodies were brought ashore by other fishing vessels that were the first to reach the shattered boat, were identified as Yaqoob, 57, Manikudi, 50, and Yuganathan, 47.