Kochi: Two fishermen were killed and another went missing when a Panama-registered merchant vessel hit a fishing boat in the Arabian Sea, off Kochi coast in the wee hours of Sun-day.

The deceased were identified as Antony John alias Thambi Durai, 55, a native of Kolachal in Tamil Nadu and Rahul Das, 24, a native of Assam. The person missing is Motti Das, 26, of Assam.

Police said the vessel, Amber L which was proceeding at top speed rammed into the boat Carmel Matha after 2 am. The boat belongs to Nazar and Ernest of Fort Kochi. There were 14 fishermen in the boat including 12 Tamil Nadu natives and two Assam natives when the accident took place. The boat had left Fort Kochi for sea on June 9.

The fishermen said that after the collision the boat overturned and was split into two and sunk in the sea. The fishermen who were sleeping in the boat after fishing, woke up under the impact of the collision and were thrown off into the depths of the sea and most of them surfaced to cling to the broken wooden planks of the boat.

They alleged that the cargo vessel fled the scene, ignoring their pleas to rescue them. The fishermen who were able to survive the accident were Ernest, 35, Davis, 34, Merlyn, 26, Antony, 26, Nelson, 27, Pratheesh, 28, Andrew, 42, Britto, 24, Armstrong, 22, and Kurishu Michael, 45, from Vaniyakudi and Alto, 24, from Keezhmitalam in Kanyakumari.

They were rescued by the fishermen in the fishing boat St Antony’s who heard their screams. “We had to weather the sea in the waters for over two hours before those fishermen reached us,” said Davis. The rescued fishermen are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Kochi.

The enforcement agencies including Coastal Police, Coast Guard and Navy zeroed in on the vessel after they were alerted by the rescuing fishermen. The ship had 28 crew members on board including its captain, a Greek national. Preliminary inferences suggested that it was heading to China from Israel.

The Coastal Police in Fort Kochi has registrered cases against the ship’s crew under IPC Sections 280 (rash navigation of vessel), 427 (mischief causing damage) , 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304 (causing death by negligence).

Coastal ADGP Tomin Thachankary also arrived at Fort Kochi to oversee the investigation. “One of the focus of the investigation will be to find out the exact location of the collision and how it happened. The movement of the ship has been restricted,” said a senior police official.