Indian Coast Guard rescued distressed Lankan fishermen

The Indian Coast Guard personnel rescued five Sri Lankan fishermen who went missing with their multi day fishing trawler ‘EVINDI 01’  which had drifted into the Indian territorial waters  following a technical defect last week, Navy said.

The rescued fishermen and the fishing trawler was handed over to the Sri Lanka Navy with the involvement of Indian Naval Ship ‘Abeek’ and SLNS ‘Ranawickrama’   at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), 15 Nm off Kankasanthurai yesterday.

Upon a request made by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo, the Chennai MRCC responded swiftly to inform the Indian Coast Guard over the missing trawler and its crew.

The Indian Coast Guard, had carried out a search and rescue operation to locate the area of the missing trawler. Subsequently, the drifted fishing trawler with its crew were located floating in the Indian waters, 142 NM off PPD.

The multi day fishing trawler went missing together with its crew North of Point Pedro, on 1st April following a the technical defect sustained in the engine. The five member crew had gone for fishing from Trincomalee on 24th March. The rescued fishermen were brought to the Kankasanthurai harbour by the Sri Lanka Navy and the trawler is due to be handed over to its legitimate owners.