Seven Sri Lankan fibre boats were found adrift in Indian waters by Coast Guard Ship Rani Abbakka engaged in IMBL operations as part of St Antony’s Festival at Kachchativu.
All these boats were immediately recovered by Coast Guard Ship C-432.
A thorough search was carried out on board these boats, however, nothing suspicious was found.
In the meantime, a request for assistance from Sri Lankan Coast Guard was received to search for few fibre boats belonging to Sri Lankan pilgrims which were secured at Kachchativu and had gone adrift towards Indian waters due to bad weather in the early hours of March 7.
As a goodwill gesture and to improve cooperation between both the Maritime forces, the boats were handed over to Sri Lankan Coast Guard Ship SLCG-409 at IMBL at 2:30 pm on March 7 20 by Coast Guard Ship C-432 of Coast Guard Station Mandapam.
