Merchant vessel captain grilled on collision

The Yellow Gate police on Wednesday summoned the captain of merchant vessel Nordlake in the case of collision with INS Vindhyagiri. According to the police, Captain Petros Valneo denied negligence or rash sailing on his part and blamed the vessel traffic monitoring system for the collision.

Senior police officials said that the investigation team is scrutinising the video footage recorded by several people aboard INS Vindhyagiri. “We are analysing the footage and the witnesses’ statements and comparing them with the captain’s statement,” said a senior police official. INS Vindhyagiri of the Indian Navy had collided with MV Nordlake near Sunk Rock Light House on Sunday evening.

The police are digging out the captain’s past records to check if he has been part of similar accidents elsewhere.  The captain told investigators that that the navy officials could have miscalculated and miscommunicated, resulting in the accident.

A complaint was registered at the Yellow Gate police station against MV Nordlake. The accident case is being investigated by the director general of shipping and the navy as well. The navy has formed a board of inquiry.