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Blast destroys Sri Lankan naval craft

COLOMBO: In a day of heavy fighting, at least 10 sailors of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLA) were presumed dead, four soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were killed and 22 cadres of the LTTE were claimed to have been killed in fighting between the forces and the Tigers on Saturday.

The navy in a statement said that one of its Fast Attack Craft (FAC) was caught “in a possible underwater blast” on Saturday morning. The locally built P438 deployed in northeastern coastal waters off Nayaru has sunk due the blast that occurred around 2.30 a.m.

The navy said on receipt of the SOS message from the sinking craft, other sea units launched a rescue mission and six of the 16 crew members have been rescued.

It said that an underwater blast damaged the boat’s hull and caused it to sink in a short time and maintained that there has been no sea confrontation nor was any LTTE craft present in the area. “Navy suspects the blast has caused by a possible sea mine or due to some underwater weapon developed by the terrorists”.

Pro-LTTE TamilNet, quoting Tiger sources, claimed that the LTTE’s “elite” Black Sea Tigers, engaged in a confrontation with a fleet of the navy in the seas off Mullaiththeevu, attacked and sank a SLN Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) between Mullaiththeevu and Nayaru.

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