COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy on Saturday rescued all seven Indian crew onboard a Maldives-bound merchant vessel that sank off the island’s southern coast and arranged for their repatriation home.
The navy said it responded to a distress call relayed by Maldivian authorities after the vessel took in water and began to sink due to a mechanical fault 68 nautical miles (125 kilometres) off Sri Lanka’s southern port of Galle.
“All seven Indian sailors are in good health and arrangements have been made to hand them over to the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka for repatriation,” the navy said in a statement.
The statement said the vessel was on its way to the Maldives but it was not immediately clear what cargo it had onboard.