With sunken boats near Kochi shipping channel not salvaged, fears of more marine accidents remain

Onus of removing wreckage lay with boat owners, say Port Trust sources

The incidents in which a traditional fishing boat with in-board engine and a mechanised fishing vessel sank off the coast of Vypeen, close to the Kochi shipping channel, have triggered concerns about the retrieval of sunken boats to prevent future accidents. A total of 57 fishermen from the traditional boat (St. Antony) and mechanised fishing vessel (Ashiqmon) were rescued by fellow fishers. The traditional boat with in-board engine sank in the early hours of Wednesday after it ran into the remains of the mechanised boat, which had gone down on the night of Tuesday around 9.30 p.m. The accident on Tuesday night occurred after the mechanised fishing vessel ran into the debris of a previously sunken vessel. The two incidents forced the fishers’ unions to approach the Cochin Port Trust with a request to help remove the remains of the sunken vessels to make fishing operations smoother. However, Port Trust sources said on Thursday that the onus of removing the sunken vessels and wreckage lay with the owners of the boat. They also said that the owner of the fishing vessel that sank on Wednesday morning had sought permission to remove the remains and the Port Trust had granted permission for the same.