3 dead as fishing boat sinks off Karnataka coast

Mangaluru, April 14 (IANS) Three crew members died after a Indian fishing boat collided with a foreign ship and capsized in the Arabian sea near Mangaluru off Karnataka's west coast, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said on Tuesday."Three crew members died after the Indian fishing boat 'Rabah' collided with a Singapore container ship (Apl Le Havre) and sunk 43 nautical miles west of Mangaluru in the Arabian sea in the wee hours of the day," said the ICG in a tweet later.Of the 14 crew members of the fishing boat, 2 were rescued and search was on to trace the remaining 9 members on the high sea."Three vessels and a Dornier aircraft from Kochi in Kerala were rushed to the mishap spot for search and rescue operation," said the ICG.The fishing boat with 14 crew members, including 7 each from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal ventured into the sea from Beypore in Kozhikode district in the neighbouring southern state on Sunday.The rescued duo has been identified as Sunil Das (34) from West Bengal and Velmurukan (37) from Tamil Nadu.
--IANS fb/pgh