Hit and run: Panama vessel hits boat off Kerala coast, intercepted

Aided by the coastal radar chain, the Coast Guard on Thursday intercepted a merchant ship which hit a fishing boat about 18 nautical miles off Beypore in North Kerala. Three fishermen escaped with minor injuries. This is the third such incident in a year along the Kerala coast.

The Panama-flagged vessel M V Izumo, which was on its away to Singapore from Gujarat, hit the boat and did not stop. It was escorted to Kochi by the Coast Guard within four hours of the incident that occurred on Wednesday evening.

A Defence release said that the Remote Operating Station (ROS) in Kochi, the user-end of the radar chain, was utilised to correctly identify the ship. The Mercantile Marine Department and the Kerala police have already begun investigations into the incident.

On Wednesday night, personnel from Indian Coast Guard Ship Samar boarded M V Izumo.

They seized and sealed documents as well as other navigational equipment.

As part of the coastal radar chain, high-end surveillance gadgets, electro-optic sensors, communication equipment and meteorological equipment have been installed in light houses at 46 locations across the country.

The data generated by the static sensors is available through a network connecting the Coast Guard district headquarters, regional headquarters and the Coast Guard Headquarters in New Delhi.

On completion of the static sensor project, the entire coastline of the country will get seamless electronic surveillance up to 25 nautical miles into the sea.

The Defence spokesman in Kochi, Com Roy Francis, said that data from four coastal surveillance radars in the state — in Ezhimala, Ponnani, Vypin and Kollam — is available from the ROS in Kochi.

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