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Search intensifies for 7 fishermen missing off Galle coast
View(s):The search for seven missing fishermen intensified yesterday with an Indian naval helicopter also joining efforts to locate the missing multi-day fishing trawler.
Director General of Fisheries Prasanna Ginige told the Sunday Times that the helicopter had been deployed in response to an appeal made by Sri Lankan authorities through the Indian High Commission in Colombo. Meanwhile, the Maldives Coast Guard had also deployed vessels to try and locate the missing fishermen, Mr Ginige added.
He said the last known location of the missing trawler, which had set out from the Galle Fisheries Harbour, was close to territorial waters of the Maldives. The last radio communication with the vessel had been on June 29. Nothing has been heard from the trawler since.
The Fisheries DG said the Department of Fisheries had been notified of the missing vessel only on July 4, and insisted his department had been fully engaged in attempts to locate the vessel since then.
Mr Ginige said it was likely that the trawler’s engine had cut out and its battery had also failed, which would explain the failure to make radio contact. Nevertheless, the vessel had enough food and water for the fishermen for about one and a half months. “There have been no storms in the area so we don’t believe the vessel sank. Even if the trawler is drifting without its engine, the men have enough food and water and we are hopeful of locating them before long,” he added.
Meanwhile, a group of fishermen and their families held a protest yesterday blocking the Galle-Colombo Main Road in Hikkaduwa demanding that authorities take speedy action to find the missing fishermen.