Sri Lankan Navy chases Tamil Nadu fishers: 1 hurt and boat damaged

Rameswaram & Vedaranyam: A day after the Sri Lankan authorities released all the 51 fishermen from Tamil Nadu arrested by their Navy in the past two months, the island Navy patrols got into the action again on Saturday and chased away a large number of fishermen from Rameswaram near Neduntheevu in the Palk bay.

The fishermen had left in 626 mechanised boats and were calmly fishing in that area when they were suddenly pounced upon by a Sri Lankan Navy patrol boat, said some of the fishermen later who managed to reach the shore by this evening.

On being chased, the shocked fishermen began to return to shore, but the Lankan Navy personnel allegedly smashed one of the boats belonging to one Praveen and damaged it badly, they said.

As many as six fishermen in that boat were subjected to physical attacks and rude questioning by the Navy personnel, they said, adding, one of the fishermen Dicky Raj swooned in the mechanised craft itself on being allegedly ass-
aulted.

However, all the six fishermen were allowed to later let to by the Sri Lankan Navy men and the entire lot of fishermen managed to reach Rameswaram by this evening. The injured fisherman, Dicky Raj has been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Rameswaram government hospital. Nagai fishermen also attacked:

Meanwhile, a report from Vedaranyam said that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel attacked ten fishermen of Nagapattinam district when they were fishing in Kodiyakkarai offshore area and were relieved of their valuable catches, mobile phones, and two GPS instruments etc., late on Friday night. The affected fishermen hailing from Pudupettai, Perumalpettai fishermen hamlet, however, managed to reach Kodiyakarai shore on Saturday morning, with their fiberglass boats, official sources said. Of them, three fishermen suffered injuries. Based on their complaint, coastal security group and local policemen are investigating.