The fishing boat Meenu Baba 1, which went missing after setting sail from the Beruwala fishing harbour with six crew, has been found, the Department of Fisheries said.
Director General of Fisheries Susantha Kahawatta said the vessel had stalled mid-sea after running out of fuel, and that arrangements were made to send fuel to it via another boat. The boat had been unreachable since it set sail on 26 April, prompting a Navy-coordinated search.
Kahawatta said two other vessels were facing emergencies in the same waters. A merchant ship rescued an injured fisherman — whose leg was severely hurt in an accident — from a boat travelling towards Indonesia roughly 700 nautical miles from the island, after the Navy intervened to arrange the transfer. He is being brought back to land. A second vessel, Oceanic 06, drifted towards Indonesia after a technical fault, but its six crew were rescued by another boat and are also being returned.
The Director General stressed that special attention must be paid to crew safety and the seaworthiness of vessels engaged in deep-sea fishing. The incidents follow earlier distress rescues off Galle and a series of Navy deep-sea rescues this month.
