IANS

ALAPPUZHA THE body of a Kerala fisherman, who was on a boat allegedly rammed by a ship off the coast near Alappuzha earlier in the week, was recovered by naval divers from the fishing vessel’s wreck on sea bed on Sunday.

The body was cremated in Kollam. A defence spokesperson said that a 10-member navy diving team from the Southern Naval Command reached the wreck of fishing vessel Don I late Saturday evening. “The body of Santhosh was found this (Sunday) morning from the boat itself,” said the spokesperson, adding that it was handed over to his relatives.

The divers brought the body to the harbour near by and it was shifted to a medical college. It was later taken to his home town in Kollam.

With the recovery of Santhosh’s body, the death toll in the accident has gone up to three. Two other fishermen of the boat are yet to be traced.

The Indian authorities suspect that a Singapore-flagged cargo ship MVPrabhu Daya may have been responsible for the sinking of the boat.

Meanwhile, a man on board the MV Prabhu Daya has gone missing, an Indian Coast Guard officer said.

“We are informed that a search is on for a missing person on board who is feared to have fallen into the sea.

Normally, 72 hours is the search time for missing persons on the high seas,” the officer said.

The Singapore-flagged ship was ordered to proceed to a convenient Indian Port by Indian authorities after it hit the fishing boat on March 1
The suspect ship is said to be currently near Triconamalee in Sri Lanka.

The Indian Coast Guard officer said the ship was expected to reach Chennai sometime on Monday.

The hit-and-run involving the fishing vessel, “Don-1” with seven fishermen aboard, occurred on Thursday morning around 1 am, off Manakodam light house, 20 nautical miles off the Kochi harbour entrance. Two fishermen died in the accident.

The Don-1 had left from Kollam for deep sea fishing with seven fishermen aboard last Sunday.

Indian authorities suspect M V Prabhu Daya as the culprit as it did not respond to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), out of the eight ships that were near the accident area.