(COLOMBO) – A massive air and sea search operation has been launched to locate three Sri Lankan fishermen listed as missing and feared dead after their fishing craft was rammed by a huge unidentified merchant vessel during the early hours of Tuesday, a senior naval off official said on Wednesday.
The fishing craft capsized on impact with the merchant vessel and four others on board were rescued by another fishing vessel stationed in the vicinity, Sri Lanka Navy Spokesman Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya said.
He said the incident had taken on place in international waters during the early hours of Tuesday some 271 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
A Sri Lankan naval boat has reached the surviving fishermen and they were scheduled to be brought ashore sometime later on Wednesday, he said.
“We are hopeful to gather more information on the merchant vessel such as its sailing path, colour or flag and towards this end we have already informed the merchant shipping authority in a bid to trace the runaway merchant vessel.
This is the second such incident to take place regarding Sri Lankan fishermen.
In early June one fishermen was killed after a merchant vessel rammed into their tiny fishing vessel on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast.
Under international maritime obligations in the after math of such an incident the larger vessel should make an attempt to rescue anyone that has gone overboard but this was not the case in both incidents, Captain Wicramasuriya said.
