Four fishermen on board a Beypore-based fishing vessel were injured after a Panama-registered Malaysian ship rammed it, while it was engaged in fishing 13 nautical miles (around 24 km) off Kochi, early on Thursday morning.
Quoting fishermen on board the vessel, police sources said the tanker ship named Global Peak, which was proceeding southward rammed the fishing boat named Al Naeeme and speeded off. The boat and its nets suffered damage. The Coastal police in Beypore is probing the case, they added.
The fishing trawler’s owner Ali Akbar said its front portion suffered substantial damage in the impact. “The ship rammed our boat although it was well lit. The four fishermen who suffered injuries to their limbs and head were taken to Beypore late on Thursday evening,” he said.
Intervention sought
The Kerala Fishing Boat Owners’ Association has sought the immediate intervention of the State government to intercept the Malaysian ship.
Karichalil Preman, vice president of the Kerala Fishing Boat Owners Association, said there were 13 fishers, including 11 from West Bengal and two from Tamil Nadu on the fishing boat that met with the accident. He alleged that the tanker ship had ignored warning signals from the boat.
The fishermen said that the ship crew did not offer help following the accident, and that it was some local fishermen, who witnessed the incident from another boat, who rescued them and collected details of the tanker, they said.
