At least one fisherman has died and others are missing after three fishing boats came to grief in separate incidents off the Negombo coast on Saturday morning, as heavy seas driven by the south-west monsoon battered Sri Lanka’s western seaboard.
The Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lanka Air Force have launched a joint search and rescue operation. Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Sampath Thuyacontha instructed the Navy Commander and the Air Force Commander to mount the operation immediately after reports that a group of fishermen who put to sea from Negombo harbour had gone missing, Hiru News reported. Naval craft, air surveillance aircraft and support units have been deployed, and the Ministry of Defence confirmed that a Bell 412 helicopter has joined the search.
The Department of Fisheries said one boat carrying two fishermen was destroyed after striking a reef off Negombo. One of the two remains missing; the body of the other washed ashore at Negombo, according to NewsFirst. A second boat was partially damaged after hitting a reef and drifted ashore with two crew aboard, while a third vessel was reported anchored off the Bopitiya coast with two fishermen on board.
Ada Derana, reporting the capsizing of a fishing vessel in the same waters, said one body had been recovered and two people were listed as missing. Authorities have also received reports of several other fishing boats in difficulty in the area, and rescue crews are working to reach them.
A coast already under warning
The accidents came hours after the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources barred small and one-day fishing boats from putting to sea along the entire stretch from Jaffna to Beruwala — a belt that includes Negombo. Director General Susantha Kahawatta had warned on Saturday morning that winds in those coastal waters could reach 70 kmph and ordered all small craft already at sea to return to the nearest safe harbour.
The Met Department’s marine bulletin issued at 7.00 a.m. forecast very rough conditions and waves of up to 3 metres along the western coast, while an Amber advisory for heavy rain remains in force over the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces until Sunday morning.
Update (August 1, 1.00 p.m.)
Search and rescue teams have intensified operations after several fishing vessels reported distress in the same waters, Daily Mirror reported. It put the toll from the capsizing at one dead and two missing, with one body recovered so far and the search for the two missing fishermen continuing. Naval assets and the Air Force Bell 412 helicopter remain engaged.
The same rain system that produced the heavy seas has caused flooding inland, swamping a bridge repair site at Peradeniya and sixteen houses at Nawalapitiya as the Mahaweli River rose.
Update (August 2): one body recovered, one fisherman rescued
The body of one of the two fishermen listed as missing after the capsizing has been recovered, and the second man was rescued and brought safely ashore, the Ministry of Fisheries said on Sunday. The rescued fisherman was admitted to hospital for treatment, Ada Derana reported.
The Sri Lanka Air Force Bell 412 helicopter remained deployed in support of the operation, and authorities continued to receive reports of other fishing vessels in difficulty in the area.
Hiru News, reporting the ministry’s wider casualty count the same day, said the number of fishermen killed after putting to sea in bad weather had risen to five nationally, with one man still missing off Mannar. The two accounts differ on where and when the boat in this incident was lost — Hiru placed a comparable accident off Chilaw and Thoduwawa on the afternoon of July 31 — and it is not clear whether both describe the same pair of fishermen.
