Prabhu Daya: Marks on liner are proof of ‘hit’

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Underwater pictures of the merchant vessel Prabhu Daya have almost confirmed the involvement of the ship in the hit-and-run killing of two Kerala fishermen off Alappuzha coast as the video shows a fishing vessel rope stuck to parts of the ship, besides more scratch marks on the hull of the liner, said a senior mercantile marine department (MMD) official.

"We are still downloading information from the voyage data recorder (VDR). The electronic data from the ship’s global positioning and automatic identification systems confirm the whereabouts of the ship at the time of the incident and this information corroborates our other findings," the official said.

"It may take long to come to a final conclusion, as we have to analyse a large amount of data and several documents," M.P. John, principal officer, MMD Kochi, who is in charge of the probe, told Deccan Chronicle.

Sources said Kerala police has registered a case and filed an FIR naming second officer Prabodh Sugandan as the accused number one. Sugandan is being treated at a hospital in Trincomallee after he fell off the deck while the ship was enroute to Chennai from Sri Lanka.

A seafarer from Gujarat, who was on night watch duty when the incident took place, is also under the police scanner.

A senior Kerala police official said the cargo vessel owned by Mumbai-based Tolani Shipping Company would be detained in Chennai under the protection of Chennai Marine Police, while they might decide to move the crew involved in the incident to Cochin.