33 crewmen of Taiwanese ship arrested for illegal entry

Kochi, Aug 2 (UNI) Lakshadweep police today arrested 33 crew members of the Taiwanese deep sea fishing vessel Isabel III, which had run aground a coral reef near an uninhabited island on the night of July 15.

Senior Lakshadweep union territory police officials told UNI that a case had been registered against the vessel crew under Sections 280 and 336 of the IPC for rash and negligent navigation and endangering of human life and Section 14 of Foreigners Act pertaining to illegal entry into restricted area.

The case had been registered on the basis of the report of the joint interrogation team of the Intelligence Bureau, Coast Guard and the Lakshadweep police.

They will be produced before the executive magistrate at Kavaratti tomorrow, the police said.

The deep sea fishing vessel, which was lying partially sunk off the Suheli Par would be formally impounded, they added.

The 33 crew members, who swam to the uninhabited Suheli Par after their vessel was grounded on a coral reef, were rescued in a joint operation by the Navy, Coast Guard and the Lakshadweep union territory administration on July 16.

They were lodged in the India Reserve Battalion camp at Kavaratti where they were interrogated by the joint team. Their questioning however, took a long time as virtually none of the crew members was familiar with English.

The investigation could make a headway only after some Mandarin language interpreters were flown into Kavaratti from the mainland last week.

The crew members comprise of Chinese, Filipino, Taiwanese, Vietnamene and Indonesians.

''The interrogation revealed that there was some negligence on part of the captain and crew in navigating the ship,'' the officials said.

The ship, flying under a Seychelles flag, was on way from Oman to Singapore when the mishap occurred.

Officials said so far there had been no oil spillage from the grounded ship, which was carrying 190 kl of marine diesel oil.

UNI ARC GM AK KN1919