Sri Lankan pirates attack, rob TN fishermen near Vedaranyam coast

CHENNAI: In yet another alarming incident, a group of six fishermen from Tamil Nadu who were fishing in different locations were reportedly attacked and robbed by Sri Lankan pirates at sea on Saturday.

As per a Maalaimalar report, the incident occurred when three fishermen from Nagapattinam, Rajkumar, Rajendran, and Nagalingam were fishing in their fibre boats near Vedaranyam on Saturday afternoon. All of a sudden, six Lankan pirates in two boats ambushed them and attacked them with sticks and knives. Following this, the pirates relieved the fishermen of their fishing equipment worth Rs 3 lakhs, including fish, fishing nets, and GPS equipment and escaped from there.

The three fishermen who were subjected to the attack sustained injuries on their head, hands and also had some internal injuries. When the injured fishermen returned to shore on Sunday morning, other fisherfolk who saw them immediately rushed them to the Vedaranyam government hospital for treatment.

Similarly, three other fishermen Kumar, Lakshmanan, and Jagan from Perumalpet, who went in their boats to fish near Kodiyakarai, were also allegedly attacked by the Lankan pirates, who robbed fishing equipment worth Rs 1 lakh from them. The injured fishermen rushed back to the shore and reported the incident to the fishing community the next morning.

Following the low pressure in the Bay of Bengal and heavy rainfall warning, fishermen from Nagapattinam had not ventured into the sea for nearly seven days. Finally, when they returned to work on Friday, they were deeply saddened by the attack and robbery that took place on Saturday.

Owing to this, the fishermen community has demanded immediate government intervention to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future and threaten their livelihood.