Kollam: The six fishermen rescued after a foreign ship scraped their fishing boat 40 nautical miles off the Kollam shore on Saturday are yet to recover from the shock.
It was by 4 pm on Friday that the crew members of ‘Arokya Annai’ fishing boat owned by Sahayam, a Kanyakumari native, ventures into the sea.
By the morning, they had reached the outer sea close to the international waters, and around 12 pm, they spread tarpaulin sheets over its top to take a small nap.
“It was all of a sudden we heard a loud noise and found ourselves starting to drown in the sea," said one of them. "In the meantime, we could find a ship sailing away. We sank several times in the whirlpool but somehow managed to stay alive.”
They came near their boat which has already started sinking, after swimming around for nearly ten minutes. They had caught hold of the debris by the time they were rescued by a nearby fishing boat ‘Love Maria’.
It passed the news to the shore, and soon the Coast Guard and Indian Navy helicopters reached the spot and returned after finding no casualties.
Another long journey of about 12 hours in the fishing boat took them to Neendakara by around 12.30 am on Sunday. They were immediately given medical aid at the Kollam District Hospital. They returned to Tamil Nadu after check-ups.
Xavier, a Thiruvananthapuram native residing in Neerodi, Kanyakumari; Saji, Alias, and Remi Das, all natives of Neerodi; and Saiju and John Prabhu of Vallavilai in Kanyakumari; had the miraculous escape.
The fishermen said to alert small fishing vessels ships used to sound horns audible beyond four to five kilometres. However, no one heard such a warning.
Ship yet to be stopped
The Hong Kong flagged cargo ship ‘KSL Anyang’ suspected to be involved in the accident is yet to be stopped by the Indian Navy. She was heading for the Sri Lankan waters making it difficult for the Navy to intervene. The Coast Guard and the Navy have been communicating with the crew on board the ship but in vain.
The investigation has been handed over to the coastal police in Kochi.
Indian Navy’s interceptor boats and a Dornier aircraft tracked the vessel, according to a Coast Guard officer.
It started the voyage from Bandar Abbas port in Iran on August 20 for Singapore.
In similar incidents in recent past, two fishermen had died after a cargo vessel registered in Panama ‘Amber L’ collided with a fishing boat off the Kochi shore.
Three fishermen were injured off the sea in Vizhinjam when an unidentified vessel rammed their fibre boat and fled.
