TIRUCHY: Pirates attacked five fishermen from Vedaranyam mid-sea snatching away their catches and fishing gears, sources said.

A group of five fishermen-Ponnudurai, Jayachandran, Raman, Ramesh and Sivakumar from Arukattuthurai near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam-ventured into sea for fishing on Friday late evening in a country boat. While they were fishing south east of Kodiyakarai around 1 am on Saturday, a four member gang came by a fibre boat and took over the fishing vessel at knife point, sources said.

They allegedly took away all their catches apart from fishing equipment. The fishermen lost their GPS equipment, smart phones and watches apart from their nets.

The panic stricken fishermen returned to shore empty handed and lodged a complaint with the Vedaranyam Coastal Security Group personnel, sources said. The officials passed on the information to the fisheries department. The fishers said that the gang were speaking in Tamil in Sri Lankan slang and they were also wearing masks.

The fishers appealed that such incidents have been taking place in the region frequently and the government should initiate proper steps to prevent the menace.