A 17-foot long fibre boat equipped with kerosene powered outboard engine was found abandoned and drifting near the coastal waters off the shore of Point Calimere wildlife sanctuary at the Vedaranyam block of the district on Saturday morning.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the  boat was from Sri Lanka but there was no trace of any fishing gear on board.

According to Marine police sources, on Saturday morning police personnel spotted with registration number KD/M-57-A45 furnished with a kerosene powered 15 HP Yamaha engine drifting off the coast of point Calimere wildlife sanctuary.

On securing the boat, police personnel found a few Lanka made matchboxes, towels and wooden sticks on board. Since there were no sign of any fishing gear in the boat, police personnel were sure that at least no fishermen were swept ashore owing to bad currents.

Police personnel added that various perspectives for the incident are being probed including the boat used by the anti social elements for smuggling gold into the country.
Speaking to Express, Nagapattinam Superintendent of Police Sibi Chakravarthy said, “The match boxes found on board bears Sri Lankan  names written in Sinhalese and the boat is also equipped with Kerosene powered engine which is not at all used by Indian fishermen. We have alerted the coastal communities to stay on vigil and have begun combing operations to trace the occupants of the boat.”

Vedaranyam Marine police registered a case and are investigating.(Indian Express)