Sri Lanka seeks support of India and other neighbours to find missing Navy boat with 6 sailors

Colombo, Oct 18 (IANS) The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) is seeking the support of India and other neighbouring countries to find a Navy boat with six sailors, which had reportedly gone missing for more than a month while on a naval operation.
SLN spokesman Indika De Silva told media that details of the missing boat had been shared with the Indian authorities and other neighbours like the Maldives, Indonesia and Australia.The spokesman said that the boat ventured to Indian Ocean from the southern coast on an operation on September 16 and lost all
communication on September 17.The SLN had deployed several vessels to search the boat with sailors and had intensified the operation with the help of an aircraft of Sri
Lanka Air Force.The Navy suspects that the boat would have been drifted to the international waters after getting caught in a heavy current following an engine breakdown.SLN carries out regular patrols to nab trafficking of narcotics which is regular in the sea routes closer to Sri Lanka, and human smugglers
who take rides mostly to Australia.
--IANS sfl/khz/

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