Beypore port: Lens on 2 ships

KOZHIKODE: Two foreign ships are under the scanner in the boat capsize incident off Beypore port in which one fisherman was found  dead and three others were missing.  The director-general of shipping (DGS) has asked these ships not to sail out of the Indian maritime border. One ship was bound for Mumbai and the other for Gujarat. Another vessel heading towards Sri Lanka was also in the vicinity when the unidentified ship hit the boat on October 11. According to port authorities, there is lack of clarity on the versions of the escaped fishermen as the incident took place at night during heavy downpour.  The capsized boat, Immanuel, from Munambam, Kochi, had six persons on board. Two were rescued by fishermen from Beypore on Thursday while the body of Antony was retrieved by Navy divers a day later. The missing are Prince, Johnson and Ramiyas.

All fishermen are from Poovar, Thiruvanant-hapuram, barring Rami-yas, who is a native of Kanyakumari.    According to the escaped fishermen, a red coloured ship had hit their boat.   The Coast Guard and Navy stopped the search operations on Sunday citing rules that after 72 hours, the missing can be considered as dead.  The district administration had urged the Navy to resume the search using advanced equipment. “We had urged the Navy, Coast Guard and port authorities to resume the search using state-of-the-art equipment to have a clear scan of the things in deep sea,” said district collector U.V. Jose. No search was carried out on Tuesday, except the routine patrolling.