Beypore port. File photoKozhikode: Two foreign ships are under the scanner of the special investigation team that is probing the fishing boat capsize off Beypore port here last week. One fisherman had drowned and three others were missing in the incident. The director-general of shipping (DGS) has asked the ships not to sail out of the Indian maritime border.
According to official sources, one of the ships is now docked at Mumbai port and the other is at Hazira port in Gujarat. As the probe is underway, the officials have refused to provide more information.
The investigation team will inspect the ships and collect evidence before going into any further legal action, sources said.
The boat 'Immanuel', which ventured into the sea from Munambam harbor in Kochi on October 10 with six fishermen, sank around 51 nautical miles off Beypore coast at 8pm on October 11.
Of the six fishermen, two were rescued by another fishing vessel, 'Govind', which was passing by. The rescued fishermen were identified as Karthik, 19, and Xavier, 58.
Two days later, the Indian Coast Guard recovered the body of another fisherman, Anto, 39, from the wheelhouse of the boat. The ICG and Indian Navy are still searching for the three missing fishermen Johnson, Prince and Rameez.
ICG's ship 'Abhinav' from Kochi, a smaller vessel (C-404) from Beypore, a Dornier aircraft and a naval helicopter were engaged in the search operation with three divers to check for the missing crew.
Indian Navy's Joint Operation Center in Kochi had informed the Mercantile Marine Department about three ships which were passing through the area at the time of the incident. The probe team later identified two ships, which were moving towards Gujarat, as more likely to be involved in the incident. The other ship was heading towards Sri Lanka, according to officials.
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