Indian Navy to salvage sunk ship

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Indian Navy will assist the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) to salvage 'Pabbatha', one of the two SLN ships sunk by the Liberation Tigers on Sunday, said SLN sources in Colombo today. They said that the landing craft might be salvaged either today or tomorrow.

They also said that the two T-86 infantry fighting vehicles, which went down in the Pabbatha would not have been damaged.

However, it could not be independently confirmed whether the Indian Navy has already agreed to the joint salvaging operation.

The attack on the two naval craft off Pt. Pedro in Jaffna by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Sunday night, is said to be affecting sea-borne transport men and materials to the Jaffna peninsula, said sources there.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan army sources in the north said that the troops of Operation Jayasikurui have captured a network of bunkers constructed by the Liberation Tigers in the Mankulam area.