Thoothukudi: The sighting of a Chinese vessel within Indian waters near Kanyakumari on Friday night led to Indian Coast Guard firing in the air when the foreign ship failed to pay heed to repeated warnings.
According to sources from the Indian coast guard station at Thoothukudi, an offshore patrolling vessel of the coast guard, ICGS Vaibhav, captained by Commandant Arvindh found a straying vessel moving in Indian waters at around 8 pm on Friday near Kanyakumari.
The ship could not be clearly seen due to darkness, but reportedly continued to move in Indian water despite a warning issued from the coast guard patrolling vessel. Following this the coast guard vessel opened fire to drive away the vessel.
Speaking to DC, a coast guard official said that coast guard personnel at ‘ICGS Vaibhav’ assumed it to be a Chinese vessel as the radio messages from the ship intercepted by the coast guard patrolling vessel sounded like Chinese slang.
On Saturday evening IGC clarified that the Chinese vessel, owned by a company involved in building a port at Hambantota on South West of Sri Lanka, was on its way to Goa to do some repair works, when it strayed in to the Indian waters.
“There seems to be an language problem and both sides failed to understand what the other side was telling. When the Chinese vessel continued its course without paying heed to Indian Coast Guard ship’s warning, rounds were fired in the air by CG. Then the Chinese ship moved to international water and continued its course to Goa,” sources said.
