The Sri Lanka Navy brought three fishermen ashore at Trincomalee on Monday morning for urgent medical treatment, after they fell ill aboard a multiday trawler operating off the east coast.
The three were taken to Trincomalee harbour and transferred to Trincomalee General Hospital, NewsFirst reported.
The trawler Cheshan Putha 02 had left Trincomalee harbour on 6 November carrying seven fishermen. While working roughly 25 nautical miles off the Trincomalee coast, three of the crew developed sudden medical conditions needing immediate attention.
How the call was handled
The Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources requested assistance through the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo, which coordinated the operation.
The Navy dispatched Fast Attack Craft P 450, attached to the Eastern Naval Command, to retrieve the men. Naval personnel transferred the three onto the craft, administered first aid and ran them back to Trincomalee harbour.
The Navy said it maintains continuous operational readiness to assist fishing and maritime communities in emergencies within Sri Lanka’s Search and Rescue Region.
Not reported
The filing does not name the three fishermen, give their ages or home areas, describe the nature of their illness, or report their condition on arrival at hospital. It does not say what became of the four remaining crew or the vessel, or give the time the craft was dispatched or reached the trawler.
A note on sourcing, and a near-identical case three days earlier
No other verified newsroom had carried this operation at the time of writing. The Daily Mirror and Hiru News rails were checked directly and carry nothing on it, and a search across verified Sri Lankan outlets returned no match. The report is single-source.
Readers scanning for this story elsewhere should be careful of a different rescue reported three days earlier. On 6 November the Navy brought ashore a single fisherman from the trawler Krishan Putha, which had sailed from Kudawella on 29 October and was about 54 nautical miles off Boulder Point when he fell overboard and was recovered. That operation also ran through MRCC Colombo, also used an Eastern Naval Command Fast Attack Craft — P474 — and also ended at Trincomalee harbour and Trincomalee General Hospital.
The two are separate events. The distinguishing facts are the vessel name, the number of patients, the departure port and the distance offshore, not the agencies or the destination, which are the same in both.
