Tension prevails at Tharuvaikulam, a coastal hamlet situated about 10 km from here, after the Sri Lankan Navy allegedly detained 22 fishermen along with their boats, including three mechanised vessels, on Sunday.
The villagers said a group of fishermen in the mechanised boats owned by Sekar, Gnanapragasam and Muthu and the country boat of Nicholas, who had ventured into the sea on Wednesday last, were carrying out their operations on the high-seas.
“We came to know about this incident around 10 a.m. when other Tharuvaikulam fishermen in the vicinity informed us about the detention,” said Felix, a resident of Tharuvaikulam.
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Though the officials of the Department of Fisheries were informed about this incident, none came to Tharuvaikulam till 6 p.m., which triggered unrest in the village. While a group of youths tried to stage road roko on the busy Rameswaram highway and attempted to detain a couple of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation buses in a bid to bring the officials to the village, the elders stopped them from doing so.
Barring the police personnel, who were deployed in the village immediately to prevent any untoward incident, no official came to the village to meet the relatives of the detained fishermen that triggered tension. Confirming the detention of the fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, the District Collector, Ashish Kumar, said that steps had already been initiated to ensure the safe release of the Tharuvaikulam fishermen.