The LTTE had agreed to free the 17-member Indian crew from the MV Princess Kash they had seized on Friday off the Mullaitivu coast, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said yesterday. But the fate of the four Sri Lanka crewmen on board remained uncertain.

An ICRC spokesman said that the Tigers were willing to release the 17 Indians but high level talks were on about the four Lankans on board.

The SLAF bombed the 6,000-mt freighter on Friday and destroyed it to prevent its cargo falling into Tiger hands.

In a statement that followed the bombing, the presidential secretariat said that the ship's location and the conduct of its captain gave sufficient cause for grave suspicion of the defence authorities that he was acting in connivance with the LTTE to transport and deliver dangerous merchandise to the LTTE.''

The Tigers claimed that they took the crew because the vessel was "violating Tamil territorial waters'' and promised to free the crewmen "very soon.''

Diplomatic sources said that India had sought a clarification of the incident after the government statement that followed the SLAF sinking the ship. They confirmed that High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon had a meeting with President Kumaratunga but there was no word on what the discussions were.

Defence sources said they have to question the captain of the ship to ascertain if he had acted in connivance with the LTTE.

They said the navy is yet to submit the record of their conversation with the captain of the ship to intelligence authorities.