Kozhikode: The Coast Guard will be submitting an affidavit at the High Court on the measures it had taken to retrieve the bodies as well as identifying the survivors in the boat mishap off Beypore coast on October 11 in which one died and three fishermen went missing when an unidentified ship hit at the fishing boat Immanuel from Munambam, Kochi. The HC had directed the Coast Guard to file an affidavit on Monday in sequel to a petition submitted at the High Court by the relatives of three missing fishermen.
The relatives complained that the authorities failed to take any proper action to retrieve the bodies of the missing fishermen from the debris of the capsized boat. The counsel of the Coast Guard is expected to file the affidavit on the steps it had taken to retrieve the bodies, the rescue operations and search, at the HC. It is to be recalled that the maritime administration has so far not found any evidence of the merchant ship involved in the alleged incident of a collision between a fishing boat and merchant vessel leading to a death of one fisherman and missing of three others off the Beypore Coast.
The Mercantile Marine Department of Ministry of Shipping on Friday in a statement had said that it was clueless on the ship involved in the accident. The department has also listed late reporting of the incident and inaccuracies and inconsistencies of various agencies and the fishermen on what happened on the fateful day impacting the investigation.
