Suspected vessel told to report at Chennai port

KOCHI: Mv Prabhu Daya, the Singapore-flagged merchant vessel suspected to have been involved in the incident, will report to the Chennai port as per the directives of the General of Shipping.The Preliminary Inquiry Officer of Mercantile Marine Department (MMD), assisted by a Coast Guard officer, will board the ship for further investigation, an official communique from the Director General, Shipping, stated.“Given the information provided by the Coast Guard on likelihood of the vessel mv Prabhu Daya being involved in the collision with fishing vessel Don-I, the merchant vessel has been requested to divert to a convenient Indian port,” it said.The Mercantile Marine Department has already begun a probe into the incident, with a team led by Captain Santhosh Kumar carrying out the investigation. As part of the probe, MMD officials collected evidence from Dominic Antony of Tangasseri, owner of Don-I and from a crew member of St Antony-I, another fishing boat, which was anchored near the site of the incident.The MMD officials also said that Captain Santhosh Kumar will leave for Chennai on Monday as part of the investigation. “Investigation into the collision is currently at the preliminary stage. Efforts are on to identify the ship that rammed the fishing boat. Legal proceedings will commence once the vessel is identified,” officials said.It was in the early hours of March 1 that a merchant vessel hit the fishing boat Don-I killing three.