The documents seized from Amber L, the vessel that hit an Indian fishing boat off the city coast, killing two fishermen, has revealed that the second officer was controlling the ship at the time of the accident.
The police have registered case of manslaughter under Section 304 of the IPC over the incident. However, police have not named anyone as accused in the case till now.
The accused will be named after the probe is over. The Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) authorities and coastal police have completed inspection of the ship. The inspection has revealed that it was the second officer who controlled the ship from 12 am to 4 am on the night in which the mishap occurred. The mishap occurred around 2 am. Hence, the second officer along with the captain will be named as accused in the case, it is learnt. The MMD authorities have seized the documents including the voyage data recorder of the ship.
The voyage data recorder of the ship should be decoded and examined. From this, it will become clear whether the crew of the ship were aware about the accident. However, the caption and other officials of the ship have taken the stand that they did not know about the ship hitting the boat.
The police have taken on face value the argument put forth by the officials of the ship that they were unaware of the accident as the ship has a length of 187 metres. However, the voyage data recorder of the ship needs to be examined to clarify this.
At the same time, the search and rescue operation to locate the missing fisherman will continue on Tuesday also.
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Source: Mathrubhumi
