Fishermen from Rameswaram were attacked and their boat was damaged by Sri Lankan Navy near Katchatheevu on Saturday night.
The boat owner, K. Xavier, said that he and his team of four fishermen survived the “murderous attack” for one hour by the Sri Lankan navy personnel who hurled stones at them. However, none of them was injured.
He said that the navy started chasing his boat when they were fishing within the Indian maritime territory around 2 a.m. on Sunday. “Fearing that my boat would be toed away, I voluntarily cut the fishing net and started fleeing towards the shore,” said Xavier, who lives in Thangachimadam.
The navy boat also hit the mechanised boat and badly damaged it. “Their intention was to sink our boat. However, we escaped the one-hour-long chase,” he said.
Around 10 boats from Rameswaram had set out for the sea around 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Secretary of Ramanathapuram District Mechanised Boat Owners’ Association P. Sesuraja said that the attack on Tamil fishermen had been continuing even when the fishermen were working in the traditional fishing area.
Stating that no proactive intervention was coming from the Centre, Mr. Sesuraja said that in this situation the fishermen were losing their livelihood.
“After the mandatory ban on fishing was lifted, we could make only a minimum number of ventures into the sea in the last few months. With not much earning, our fishermen are not able to retrieve the gold pledged with the banks and are likely to lose them,” he said.
Xavier would require at least Rs. 1 lakh to repair his boat, the only source of income for him, he added.
