Three Tamil Nadu fishermen working in the United Arab Emirates have gone missing after they went for a fishing expedition a week ago. The fishermen have been identified as Robert from Puthenthurai, and Selvam from Kesavanputhanthurai (both Kanyakumari district) and Viyakulam from Koothenkuzhi in Tirunelveli district. They sailed from Sharjah on August 2 and were supposed to return to the harbour the same day. But they didn’t return even after a week. The families of the fishermen were scared that their boat might have suffered a technical snag and drifted away in sea currents or would have been detained by naval agencies of neighboring Gulf countries, said P Justin Antony of the International Fishermen Development Trust in Kanyakumari district. “We have sent petitions to the central and state governments seeking their help in tracing this fishermen. It will be great relief to the community if we get some information about them,” he stated. In the recent past, several Indian fishermen working in the Gulf countries were detained by naval agencies of neighbouring countries on charges of trespassing the territorial waters. There were also incidents of pirates in the Persian Gulf shooting at the fishing boats and Indian fishermen dying in mid-sea attacks.
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