A pall of gloom descended on Erayammanthurai, a tiny coastal village near Nithravilai on Thursday, from where hailed Pinku, one of two fishermen who were shot dead by security personnel on board an Italian oil tanker, off Kerala, on Wednesday.
Eleven fishermen, including Freddy (30), Martin (35), and Michel (45) of Poothurai, Francis (55), Muthappan (49), Johnson (38), Hillary (45), Clement (58), Hill Cherian (45) and Ajees Pinku (19) of Erayammanthurai and Valentine (22) of Kollam set out to sea from Neendakara in a mechanised boat belonging to Freddy 10 days ago. Though Valentine originally belonged to Colachel, he had settled down at Kollam with his family.
On hearing about the death of Pinku, people in and around Poothurai, Erayammanthurai and Colachel started thronging in front of St. Luciya church at Erayammanthurai. Pinku was the sole bread-winner of the family after the death of his father, Antony Xavier eight years ago and his mother, Amala Mary, four years ago.
He has two sisters, Abinaya Xavier (18) and Aguna Xavier (15). After the death of their parents, they were being looked after by their grandmother and other relatives. Now the girls have become orphans.
The body was brought to Erayammanthurai after post-mortem in Thiruvananthapuram. A mass was conducted at the church before the body was laid to rest in the cemetery within the church premises.
General Secretary of the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity, Fr. Churchill, told The Hindu that besides providing employment to the sisters of the dead they should be provided a house under the Chief Minister's Green House scheme as they were residing in a rented house.
The Central government should come forward to conduct a thorough enquiry into the indiscriminate mid-sea firing, said Fr. Churchill.
The president of the Tamil Nadu Fishermen Development Trust, P. Justin Antony, said the deceased fishermen should be given the sum of Rs.1 crore each by the Italian merchant vessel as compensation.
The local MP, J. Helen Davidson, Revenue Divisional Officer Mohana Chandran and a large number of fishermen attended the last rites at the St. Luciya Church at Erayammanthurai.
