Mangaluru, Apr 17 (IANS): The Indian Navy recovered the bodies of three missing fishermen from the sea off the coast here on Friday April 16.
The Navy will resume its search and rescue operation on Saturday to find the remaining six missing fishermen.
"Indian Naval Ship Nireekshak recovers three bodies of missing fishermen from the IFB 'Rabah' ship, to enter Mangalore port on Friday midnight to hand over the bodies," the Indian Navy stated.
The Navy has deployed its surface and air assets for the Search and Rescue (SAR) operation launched for the missing fishermen in the sea off the coast of Mangaluru.
Indian Navy vessels deployed in the search operations
"It was reported that an Indian fishing boat, IFB Rabah, with 14 fishermen had suffered a collision with a Singapore flag merchant ship, MV APL Le Havre, 40 nautical miles west of Mangaluru at about 2 am on April 13," the Navy said.
The boat IFB Rabah had set off from Beypore in Kozhikode district in Kerala on Sunday evening.
The India Coast Guard (ICG) confirmed the rescue of two crew members after an operation that began on Tuesday. After Wednesday, the Indian Navy was roped in for the search and rescue operation.
Indian Naval ships along with naval aircraft from Goa have been deployed in the area to augment the search and rescue efforts of the Coast Guard vessels.
While two rescued fishermen have been shifted to safety ashore, six bodies have been recovered thus far. The search is on for the remaining six fishermen.
To assist in the rescue efforts, INS Subhadra, a patrol vessel, was sailed from Karwar along with a diving team.
The ship arrived on the scene in the early hours of April 14.