Sea tigers sink ship carrying troops - radio

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VoT) said this morning that sea tigers attacked two ships of the SriLankan navy carrying a large number of troops off the coast of Point Pedro in Jaffna.

The radio said that one vessel was completely sunk and the other was heavily damaged beyond repair.

It further said that some troops in the ship had swum ashore but many in the two vessels, Pabbatha and Valampuri, have lost their lives in the attack.

The VoT said that the Pabbatha was damaged in an attack earlier in the seas off Vettilaikerni by black sea tiger Major Nithi. The vessel has been repaired after that and put back in service by the SLN.

Meanwhile, SLN sources said that the convoy was on its way from Trincomalee to Jaffna and that there were three ships in it. Navy sources said that 8 sea tiger boats have taken part in the attack which began around midnight and that more than 50 soldiers are reported missing.

A rescue operation is still on in the seas off Vadamaradchi coast.

The Navy source in Colombo said that further details are being awaited.