Madras HC orders detention of foreign ship that hit TN fishing boat

Chennai, Oct 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Madras High Court has ordered detaining of the Panama flagged cargo ship 'MV Navios Venue' that is lying at Mumbai port for three weeks.

The High Court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by P. Rajamani whose fishing boat was hit by the Cargo ship 19 nautical miles away from the Colachal harbour in Kanyakumari district on October 22.

The fishing boat owned by Rajamani, 'Shij Mon -1' had 17 crew members who were thrown off and badly injured when it was hit by the cargo ship. The fishing boat was totally damaged in the collision.

Two fishermen, who were seriously injured, were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard patrol vessel and admitted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical college while the remaining 15 managed to reach the shore with the support of other fishing boats that were fishing in adjacent premises in the sea.

The petitioner, Rajamani prayed to the court that the ship plies with a Panama flag and 'if it is permitted to sail beyond our territorial waters, the injured fishermen would not get any compensation'.

He requested the court to take action to detain the ship in Indian territory, and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy directed the Indian Coast Guard, Director General of Shipping, and Mumbai port to detain the Panama vessel, 'MV Navios Venue' in Mumbai port itself for three weeks.

The court ordered notice to the official respondents and the ship and adjourned the case till November 26.

Coastal Marine Police of Tamil Nadu had registered a case under Sections 280 (rash navigation of a vessel), and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code. The case was registered following a complaint filed by the driver of the boat.

Source: IANS