Navy springs into action in search of distressed fishermen in southern seas

A Fast Attack Craft attached to the Southern Naval Command carried out a naval operation to rescue a fishing trawler in trouble in the sea area off Galle yesterday (12th September).A merchant vessel had informed the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre (MRCC) about a capsized fishing vessel in the sea area about 30 nautical miles off the Galle Lighthouse. On receipt of this distress call, the Navy rushed a Fast Attack Craft along with a team of Navy divers to the sea area where the incident was reported.

During the search operation conducted, the Navy managed to save one fisherman and on being told about 06 more fishermen aboard the distressed vessel, the Navy extended their search to find the remaining persons. Unfortunately, in the extended search, Navy divers recovered 04 dead bodies of the fishermen and they are further engaged in search missions in search of the other two.

The one who was rescued was brought to the Galle harbour and rushed to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital for further treatment. Meanwhile, the dead bodies were handed over to the Galle Police for post-mortem examination.The Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre is the first point of contact for merchant ships, fishing vessels and other parties who are involved in various marine and terrestrial studies involving the maritime zone of Sri Lanka. Since the establishment of this centre, it was able to provide a better service to the fishermen and sailors through promptly coordinating necessary action to respond to a number of emergencies took place in the Sri Lankan territorial waters.