Three fishermen died and nine were missing after an oil tanker rammed into their boat off the Kochi coast early on Tuesday, ripping the vessel apart, before sailing away in the pre-dawn darkness. Among those feared drowned in the Arabian Sea was a man from Calcutta identified as Bikash Das. Two of the 14 fishermen on the boat, Oceanic, have been rescued – Naren Sarkar, also from Calcutta, and Edwin from Tamil Nadu. Police sources said the boat, which had set off from Munambam harbour in Kochi on Monday evening, was around 28 nautical miles (a little over 50km) from the coast when the tanker, suspected to be the Mumbai-registered Desh Shakti, hit the vessel around 4am. Edwin has told the police that the tanker hit the boat from behind when most of the crew were asleep, the impact splitting the smaller vessel into two. The ship then slowed down before gaining speed without making any effort to rescue the fishermen. The live tracking portal, marinetraffic.com, showed the tanker, scheduled to dock at Basra port in Iraq on August 13, had set sail from Chennai on Friday. Kerala fisheries minister J. Mercykutty Amma said the government would bear all medical expenses of the injured fishermen and initiate action against the ship’s crew. “We will conduct a proper investigation and take stringent action,” she said. The dead fishermen, whose bodies were brought ashore by other fishing vessels that were the first to reach the shattered boat, were identified as Yaqoob, 57, Manikudi, 50, and Yuganathan, 47. Yuganathan’s brother, Sagayanathan, said the three were among 11 from Tamil Nadu who were on the boat – all from one extended family in Kanyakumari. Among the others still missing is Shiju, the lone Malayali on the boat. The crew of the first fishing vessel that reached the splintered boat said they saw debris floating around and a large patch of diesel from the sunken vessel’s fuel tank soon after sunrise at 6.30. They then rescued the two fishermen who had clung on to floating debris and immediately informed the port in Kochi. P.P. Chitharanjan, chairman of Matsyafed, a state-run fisheries body, said five Coast Guard vessels and two naval helicopters had been deployed for search operations. At least 40 fishing boats from the region were also in search of the missing men. “We are doing everything possible to look for any survivors. The three bodies that were brought ashore will be sent to their families at the earliest,” he told reporters. Fishermen complained about repeated incidents, saying at least six had been reported since 2017. “Since fishermen have the right to ply their boats up to 200 nautical miles in Indian waters, it is the duty of marine enforcement authorities like the Indian Coast Guard to provide them security. We urge the state and the central government to initiate action against erring officials,” T. Peter, general secretary of the National Fishworkers Forum, told The Telegraph. In one incident in June last year, three fishermen were killed when a Panama-flagged cargo ship, Amber L, collided with a fishing boat around 12 nautical miles off Kochi. The bulk carrier had rammed into the fishing boat that had 14 men on board. Then too, fishing boats in the vicinity had rescued the fishermen. In February 2012, two fishermen were shot dead by Italian marines on board the oil tanker Enrica Lexie. Two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who were arrested later, had told the police they had mistaken the fishermen for pirates. Both have since been allowed to go back to Italy on the condition that they would return whenever summoned.