Kochi : The Kerala High Court today asked the relatives of the two fishermen and the owner of the Italian vessel Enrica Lexie to explore the possibility of an out of court settlement on the compensation issue. A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and C T Ravikumar directed the parties concerned to give a reply by 3.30 pm today in this regard.

The relatives of the two fishermen have filed separate admiralty petitions seeking a total of three crore rupees as compensation from the vessel’s owner. They had approached the Division Bench complaining about the inadequacy of the bank guarantee ordered by the single bench.

The judges also wanted to know who had ordered the firing and who was in charge of the Italian marines providing security to the ship.