Kochi: 3 fishermen killed as cargo ship hits fishing boat

This is the second fatal incident involving a foreign ship in the sea off Kerala coast.

Kochi, June 11: Three fishermen died and and 11 others injured when a Panama registered cargo ship hit their fishing boat early today off Kochi coast, the police said.

Migrant worker Rahul and Kulachal-native Thambidurai have been identified as the deceased. The other one is yet to be identified. Search is on for the missing fishing men and efforts are on to fish out the boat too.

The incident took place on early morning on Sunday when Amber a Panama based registration hit the fishing boat and completely destroyed it. The lights of the ship were switched off and immediately after the accident, it tried to sail off.

There were 14 fishermen at the boat, out of which 11 have have managed to swim safety and the condition of two of them was stated to be serious, police said. They have been taken to a Kochi hospital for treatment.

City Police Commissioner MP Dinesh, confirmed that the ship has been taken into custody by the Coast Guard and Navy officials.

This is the second fatal incident involving a foreign ship in the sea off Kerala coast.

Earlier in February 2012, two fishermen were shot dead allegedly by Italian marines on-board an oil tanker Enrica Lexie.

OneIndia News