Ahmedabad: Even as Pakistan rejected India’s claim that the crew of a Pakistani fishing boat blew up and sank their vessel on the New Year eve, the Indian Coast Guard said on Saturday that the four people on board did not look like fishermen and wore t-shirts and half pants and also the trawler did not have any fishing nets.
Kuldip Sharon, Coast Guard Commander of the North-West Region headquartered in Gandhinagar near Ahmedabad, told journalists that all central agencies were investigating the incident with three Dornier aircraft were patrolling the Arabian Sea.
“A search operation is on for the bodies of the crew members and wreckage of the vessel”, he said.
A defence ministry statement had claimed on Friday that a Pakistani fishing boat laden with explosives was intercepted by the Coast Guard at a point 365km from Gujarat’s Porbandar on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 after a hot pursuit for 90 minutes, adding that the four crew members blew up the vessel which later sank at the same spot.
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!" |
Recounting the incident, the Coast Guard said that it received intelligence input at around 8.30 in the morning of December 31 about the suspicious boat.
“We dispatched our aircraft and ships in that direction and by 1 in the afternoon, we had identified the ship. Around midnight, our vessel reached near the boat and tried to stop it. But instead of surrendering, the boat started moving in a zig-zag way and switched off lights. We chased it for about one-and-a-half hours”, said Commander Sharon.
“After the hot pursuit, we fired warning shots, but the boat did not stop. We fired more warning shots. After some time, the crew of the boat set it on fire and later it sank with them (occupants),” the officer said.
He said vigilance along the Gujarat coast had been stepped up after the boat incident and also in view of the two upcoming high-profile events in Gandhinagar--Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (January 7 to 9) and Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit (January 11 to 13). |