Even as fishermen in Rameswaram in the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu are gearing up the St Antony’s festival in Katchatheevu islet, the Sri Lankan Navy has shocked the fishing community by detaining 22 of them, off the controversial islet in Palk Bay late on Saturday night.
The fishermen are kept in a transit camp at Talaimannar, said a state fisheries officer. The Sri Lankan Navy had also seized five mechanised boats of the fishermen. “We will get the official report on the detention by Monday morning. We hope that the fishermen would be released the same day itself,” said a state fisheries department official.
Fishermen from various fishing hamlets in Ramanathapuram set out for the sea on Saturday morning in 620 mechanised boats. The fishers, hailing from Thangachimadam and Rameswaram areas had cast their nets near the Katchatheevu islet and were fishing there around midnight. It was then that a flotilla of Sri Lankan vessels arrived at the spot.
While fishermen in most of the boats who spotted the flotilla scattered from the area, the Sri Lankan Navy rounded up five boats including that of one Jaisingh from Thangachimadam. They then detained 22 persons in the five boats and took them away to Talaimannar. Fellow fishermen rushed to the coast in the early hours of Sunday to inform about the detention to the fisheries officials and police.
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