Fishing trawler in Tiger hands?

Walter Jayawardhana

INDIA: The Sri Lankan trawler missing from March 3 is believed to have been hijacked by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

After the Sri Lanka Navy received third party information that the vessel had been hijacked in mid seas and after the Indian Coast Guard has reported that the trawler has vanished without any trace, it was speculated in Colombo that most probably the missing craft would have been hijacked by the terrorist group.

It is believed the thirty feet long fishing vessel was hijacked by the terrorists in mid sea North East of the South Indian port of Thoothukudi.

On March 6 the Indian Coast Guard said it was calling off a search mission it had launched off Tuticorin to locate a Sri Lankan trawler that was reported missing on March 4. "We have searched the entire region. We took up coordinated sea-air search from Monday. We have not found any trace of the trawler and hence we have called off the search," said Inspector-General Rajender Singh, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East).

The Indian Defense Attache in their Colombo High Commission initially informed the Coast Guard headquarters that the trawler, `Hasarangu Duva,' was reported missing on March 4. Its last known position was 50 miles east of Tuticorin, in international waters, the message said.

The Coast Guard said it searched the area with CGS Varuna acting on the information provided by the Defense Attache but found no trace of the missing vessel.

The search was coordinated by a helicopter and a Dornier aircraft in the area looking out for a trawler of the description , the Coast Guard said.

The Colombo Defense Attack wrote again on March 5 that "the Sri Lankan Naval Headquarters indicated that the vessel may have been taken over by the LTTE. However, these reports are being verified. The vessel was reportedly heading towards Tuticorin at four knots."

The Coast Guard officials said if the said trawler was moving at 4 knots the four coast guard vessels in the vicinity should have definitely seen it.

It said a barrier patrol was on the boundary of the international waters and a fast moving craft was looking for it in the shallower waters near the Indian coast.

The trawler according to the Sri Lankan Navy has set sail on March 3 from Kalpitiya. The navy has received third party information from some fishermen in the vicinity that it was hijacked. All attempts to contact the trawler by radio has failed.

Meanwhile, Ramanathapuram police said it has looked in all the 12 islets in the Bay of Mannar for the boat but failed.

R. Thirugnanam the Superintendent of Police of the Ramanathapuram police said police teams have been deployed to investigate about reports that a Sri Lankan fishing boat was hijacked by the LTTE's Sea Tigers north-east of Thoothukudi in the mid sea.