Chennai, Mar 6 (IANS): The Indian Coast Guard has begun inspecting the suspect hit-and-run cargo ship M.V.Prabhu Daya at the outer anchorage of the Chennai Port, an officer said Tuesday.

The inspection is being conducted by a Coast Guard team from Kerala, the officer told IANS.

The M.V.Prabhu Daya reached the outer anchorage of the Chennai Port late Monday night, a port official said.

The ship is suspected to be involved in the the March 1 accident off the Kerala coast in which three fishermen on board a fishing vessel, Don-1, were killed.

The accident happened off Manakodam light house, 20 nautical miles off the Kochi harbour entrance.

Don-1 had left Kollam for deep sea fishing with seven fishermen on board Feb 26.

Indian shipping authorities suspect the M.V. Prabhu Daya as it did not respond to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) out of the eight ships that were near the accident area.

M.V. Prabhu Daya is a 52,822 DWT 2001-built bulk carrier that sails under the Singaporean flag. The vessel was enroute from Panaji to Singapore.