Coast Guard rescue two, recover three bodies after fishing boat hits ship off Mangaluru coast

Three fishermen drowned and nine others went missing after a fishing boat from Kerala reportedly sank after colliding with a Singapore-registered container around 42 nautical miles from Suratkal beach in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The bodies of three fishermen including Manik Das (40) from West Bengal, Alexander (45) from Tamil Nadu, and an unidentied 50-year-old male were handed over to Coastal Security police by Indian Coast Guards on Tuesday evening.

Two fishermen, among the 14 member team - Sunil Das (34) from West Bengal and Velmuragan (37) from Tamil Nadu, were rescued by Coast Guards.

The fishing boat, Rabah, with seven fishermen from West Bengal and seven fishermen from Tamil Nadu had set sail for deep fishing from Beypore port in Kozhikode district in Kerala on Sunday.

The fishing boat reportedly collided with a Singaporean Container, MV Apl-Le Havre which was sailing towards Jawaharlal Nehru Port in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Indian Coast Guard, tipped about the capsizing of the fishing boat in high sea, dispatched three speed boats and an aircraft to rescue the fishermen. The coast guards succeeded in rescuing two fishermen and retrieving the bodies of three others.

The search for nine other fishermen will continue on Wednesday morning, sources in Indian Coast Guards said.