In a major accident off Goa's coastline, an Indian Navy vessel collided against a fishing trawler in South Goa throwing overboard 23 crew members, of which six members are still missing, a senior police official said today.
Police said that the accident happened 47 nautical miles off Canacona coast during the wee hours today.
The Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy have launched a search operation for six crew members, who could not reach the coast.
One of the crew members stated that no distress call could be given out because the fishing trawler had been wrecked into two pieces, due to the impact of collision.
Krishna Shivpundi, one of the crew members of the trawler named 'Anna Maria', which had left Cutbona fishing jetty in South Goa last night, claimed that the trawler was illuminated well enough for any ship to know its location, when the accident happened.
Trawler crew members who were brought to safety on the shore were in the water, with their life jackets on, for almost five hours, before the Indian Coast Guard offered them help.
