Fishing boat’s captain booked after collision with INS Karanj led to death of 2 fishermen

A board of inquiry was set up commenced by the Navy and after a preliminary inquiry, it filed a criminal case against the Tandel (captain) of the Kerala-origin fishing boat MV Marthoma with Mumbai’s Yellow Gate police station.

As per the complaint filed by the Navy, on the evening of November 21, the Scorpene-class submarine INS Karanj, which was on operational deployment, was heading south to southeast (154°) by maintaining periscope depth at a speed of 6 knots near the coastline of Goa in the Arabian Sea.

The naval officers of INS Karanj spotted a stationary fishing boat around 2-3 kilometres away on the starboard bow (side) of the Navy submarine.

Due to the darkness and dim light of the boat, it could not be viewed clearly. And the boat was also not transmitting on the Automated Identification System (AIS). Because of this, the Navy officials from the submarine could not get the exact location, speed, name, and direction of the said fishing boat.

After a while, the SONAR system of the submarine detected the fishing boat and found that the boat had increased its speed and was heading towards the submarine.

“In order to maintain a safe distance between the submarine and the boat, the Navy’s OOW (Officer On the Watch) increased the submarine’s speed and changed its direction. Despite this, the fishing boat MV Marthoma increased its speed moving towards Navy submarine and eventually crashed into the submarine at 7:25 pm. Due to the collision, the boat capsized, and the fishermen fell into the sea,” stated Kamal Preet Singh, the executive officer of INS Karanj, in his statement to the police.

The commanding officer of the submarine alerted the Navy headquarters using satellite communication and requested help. Meanwhile, the Navy men at the submarine launched a rescue operation and rescued five fishermen.

Six fishermen swam themselves to a nearby boat. Soon a Navy rescue ship reached the accident location. All 11 fishermen who survived the accident were put on the rescue ship and taken for further medical treatment.

The rescued fishermen told Navy officers that there were 13 fishermen on board. The message was relayed to the headquarters, and the Navy launched a search operation to locate two missing fishermen.

On November 28, the Navy with the help of ONGC managed to locate the bodies of the two in the sea and handed them over to the police, Singh stated.

After the accident, the Navy submarine was moved to the Navy’s base camp in Karwar, Karnataka. After a preliminary inspection, it was found that the accident caused damage worth Rs 10 crore to the submarine, the Navy officer states in the FIR.

A preliminary inquiry indicates that due to darkness the fishing vessel’s Tandel could not spot the submarine, despite its 2-3 metre high radar above the water surface, and collided with it, said a police officer part of the inquiry.

On the complaint of Singh, the Yellow Gate police station registered an offence against unknown Tandel (captain) of the fishing boat MV Marthoma under sections 106(1), 125, 282, 324 (3), and 324(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).

“On the Navy officer’s complaint we have registered a case against the unknown Tandel (captain) of the fishing boat and further inquired about the matter. Soon a police team would visit Goa and Kerala to inquire of the surviving fishermen regarding the cause of the incident. The bodies of two fishermen were handed over to their families,” said Arvind Patil, senior inspector of the Yellow Gate police station.