“A man fired from a machine gun continuously for five minutes. It happened suddenly and everything was over even before we could understand what was happening,” said an Indian fisherman who survived the shooting by the United States Navy off the Dubai coast.
“They didn’t even give us time to demonstrate our innocence. Our boat itself became a pool of blood,” said G. Murugan, 40, who was among the eight persons on the motorboat that was targeted by the USNS Rappahannock. Speaking to The Hindu on the phone from a government hospital in Dubai, he said the firing was without any provocation. The U.S. ship did not stop after the firing. Though the fishermen signalled for medical aid, there was no response.
“The Indian government must [make] sincere [efforts] to impress upon the UAE government [the need] to file a case against the naval personnel responsible.”
The boat was sailing at reasonably good speed. It was attempting to go around the U.S. ship when it was fired upon.
Kumaresan, 32, of Thondi, another eyewitness, said the cabin crew, who were Arabs, did not slow down despite calls from him and fellow fishermen. They were not sure what prompted the U.S. naval personnel to open fire.
“The moment was terrifying. I have never come across such a dreadful moment… We were targeted from just 50 metres. I escaped by lying down near the cabin. We paid a heavy price for no fault on our part. There was absolutely no reason to open fire at us,” Kumaresan said.
The incident occurred very close to the harbour, and they were able to quickly move the injured to hospital. A few Indians working in Dubai visited the injured.
Keywords: Indian fisherman killing, U.S. Navy firing, USNS Rappahannock, Tamil Nadu victim, Jebel Ali port
@Ganesh .. How can you support US Navy. I am pretty sure based on the Navy's experience they would have known whether the boat was explosive laden or they were innocent fisherman. Unfortunately, they have been trained to shoot for the slightest reason very different from how navy personal are trained in other civilized countries.
I sympathise with the fisherman. But as per the report, the boat was going very fast and reached 50 meters close to the war ship. It would have taken only few seconds for the boat to reach the ship. I think it is the boat driver's mistake. Few years ago a small suicide boat slammed in to a US ship killing many marines. If this boat had contained explosives it would have been able to attack the ship within seconds. So I think the navy did right by opening fire. Sadly an innocent life was lost.
50 meters is too close to be near a Navy vessel. If I was guarding the
vessel I too would have fired first and asked question later. As the
boat could be a hijacked and loaded with explosive.
This report of the Hindu needs to be internationalised, so that the whole world would come to know of the truth. Global organizations like the UN, the EU, etc. and other NGOs like Amnesty, Medicine without Frontiers, Red Cross, etc. should be contacted immediately.
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