A multi-day fishing craft carrying several Navy personnel has disappeared off Sri Lanka early this week. Sources said that the Navy lost contact with the men onboard and efforts to locate the missing vessel had so far failed. Six personnel are believed to have been on patrol at the time communications were lost. Sources said that they had been on a routine patrol. It is also speculated that the unit was looking for a vessel carrying narcotics.

The Island learns that before its disappearance, the patrol alerted Colombo that it was going to investigate a suspicious boat movement. The missing trawler assigned to the Navy Intelligence and was deployed south of Sri Lanka. Sources said that the disappearance happened about four days ago.

The missing vessel had been operating alone, sources said, adding that it probably found it difficult to cope up with bad weather. Over the past several years, the Navy has carried out a spate of operations targeting international narcotic smugglers. Indian agencies, too, are engaged in operations against narcotic smugglers.