(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – Search operation at the Negombo fisheries harbor for a missing trawler stranded with four fishermen has been temporarily stopped.
This is because the vessel concerned had not been equipped with a vessel monitoring system (VMS).
The Fisheries Ministry provides VMS to fishermen free of charge.
The Ministry said that the stranded vessel Imasha Duwa had not been equipped with the said monitoring system making it hard to locate the boat.
Meanwhile Navy Media spokesman, Captain Akrma Alevi said that and ships and vessels sailing in the vicinity concerned had been requested to furnish information about the stranded boat.
The trawler Imasha Duwa had set sail for fishing on January 5.
The fishermen concerned had on 20th January informed their relatives by phone that a technical problem had cropped up in their fishing trawler and that consequently the trawler was floating in the sea.
