The bodies of two Chinese fishermen in the attack believed to have been carried out by the Tamil Tiger rebels on a Chinese fishing trawler have been found, Sri Lankan defense officials said Sunday.
The navy said two bodies of Chinese nationals were found washed ashore at Point Pedro in the north at early hours of Sunday and they were making arrangements to hand over the bodies to the Chinese authorities.
Fifteen crew members of the Chinese fishing trawler Fu Yuan Yu 225 were missing and feared dead following its sinking during the early hours of Thursday.
One Sri Lankan national and eight Chinese were rescued by another Chinese fishing trawler happened to be in the area.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have denied the accusations that they had carried out the attack. The Nordic truce monitors, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which observes the current ceasefire between the LTTE and the government, said that their findings on the incident could be expected later in the week.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2003)
