Plea to trace ship that killed fisherman

In the ship accident that happened on October 11, a group of six fishermen was fishing near Beypore coast in Kerala when an unidentified ship rammed their boat, in which Antony died and two more fishermen went missing. 

Reshma Rani, wife of Antony, along with his parents, submitted petitions to Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, Kanniyakumari Collector Sajjan Singh Chavan and Rajya Sabha MP A Vijayakumar, on Saturday.

In the petitions, she had demanded the government to identify the ship that caused the accident and to increase the compensation from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. 

Speaking to DT Next, Justin Antony, President, International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET), who had earlier submitted petitions to Kerala Fisheries Minister, Mercy Kuttyamma, said that they had submitted petitions to many government representatives repeatedly and they request them to help the families of fisherman who had died and those who had gone missing in the accident. 

Similarly, CR Senthil, state General Secretary, Fishing Workers Union (CITU), had demanded the state and Central governments to rescue the 15 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested in Iran. 

He had sent a letter to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, stating that the state government should pressurise the Central government to use Embassy level relationship to rescue the Tamil Nadu fishermen.