One-hundred-and-eleven fishermen, whose release has been ordered by a court in Trincomalee, are expected to reach the State in a day or two. They were apprehended by the Sri Lankan authorities along with their boats on January 11.
The court, which issued the orders for the release of Nagapattinam fishermen on January 17, also directed the authorities to release their boats, numbering 15, on Wednesday, according to a government press release.
The State, during the day, released 11 boats belonging to Sri Lankan fishermen. With this, the number of boats released has risen to 18. The courts in Sri Lanka had ordered the release of 30 boats belonging to Tamil Nadu fishermen. As a prelude to the talks between the countries’ fishermen, Sri Lanka has released 211 Tamil fishermen, including 22 from Karaikal. On the directions of the Tamil Nadu government, 130 Sri Lankan fishermen had been released, the release said.