Chinese sailor rescued 120 nautical miles off Kochi

Kochi, Oct 7 (UNI) A sailor who fell overboard from a Chinese container vessel under mysterious circumstances some 120 nautical miles north-west of here early this morning was rescued by a fishing boat and brought to the mainland.

Asst. Commissioner of Police Sam Christy Daniel told UNI the crew of fishing boat St Magdalene, which found the sailor floating, rescued him and brought him to Fort Kochi police station. The sailor gave his name as Zhank Zhao Li (27).

The police officer said there were some discrepancies between the accounts given by the sailor of how he fell into the sea and what the Chinese Embassy said. While the sailor said his ship had sunk after colliding with another ship, the Chinese embassy, on being contacted, said he had jumped from the vessel.

The embassy said it had been contacted by the captain of the ship 'Zhen Hua 10', who said Li jumped overboard, Mr Daniel said.

'We were suspicious about his story as he looked too neat and clean to have survived from a sinking ship. We are questioning him to get to the bottom of the matter,' the police officer said.

Senior Coast Guard officials too said there was no distress signal about a ship sinking. However, a distress signal was received at 0430 hrs today from a ship about a sailor overboard.

'We have sophisticated instruments and equipment in the area.

If there was a ship sinking, we would have known about it. There is no confirmed information as of now about any ship sinking.' UNI ARC AA DKB KN2123