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Israeli national found murdered aboard ship

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI DEC. 9. Seven passengers and two crewmembers of M.V. Nancowry, a passenger ship plying between Port Blair and Chennai, were detained by the City Police today as suspects in the murder of an Israeli passenger.

It was a dramatic unfolding of events on Tuesday, starting with the captain, S.K. Kotwal, anchoring of the vessel five nautical miles from the Chennai Port in the afternoon. He informed the office of the Deputy Director of Shipping of the murder of Cohen Yoel (27), in the wee hours of Sunday (December 7).

Yoel was sleeping on the fifth deck, away from his cabin, when an unidentified person attacked him. The assailant slit Yoel's throat with a knife. His girlfriend, Karina Elizabeth (19), a British national, raised an alarm but the assailant escaped. Two other passengers, who rushed on hearing her cries, also got a glimpse of the assailant. But that was not good enough for an exact identification.

After receiving the complaint this afternoon, a police party headed by the Joint Commissioner (North), C. Sylendra Babu, and the Deputy Commissioner (Flower Bazaar), S.N. Seshasayee, reached the ship in a boat.

The investigation on board M.V.Nancowry went on for a few hours. Based on the description of a "slim youth with a short haircut" given by Ms. Elizabeth and the two witnesses, police detained nine persons. The ship was berthed at the Chennai Port.

More than 1,200 passengers and 400 crewmembers were allowed to disembark. But, only after Ms. Elizabeth and the witnesses checked them.

The law enforcers were unable to ascertain the motive behind the attack even while the investigation continued.

According to sources, Mr. Yoel was a conservationist and a globetrotter who frequently visited Japan and India. He met Ms. Elizabeth at Goa this March and both had been on tour ever since.

The nine persons detained and the three witnesses were kept at North Beach police station and Fourth Marine police station.

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