Injured in firing by SL Navy: Fisherman

The incident occurred at high seas after the victim, along with his fellow fishermen aboard the boat, allegedly entered the territorial waters of Sri Lanka, crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

To chase away the Tamil Nadu fishermen, the Navy personnel could have resorted to firing, sources said.

Alangaram’s right eye was hurt after the Naval personnel targeted the wheel house of the boat, which bears registration numbers – ‘IMD TN-10-MM-985’. Following the firing, the bullet ripped through the glass window of the wheel house. A shrapnel fragment could have entered the victim’s right eye, causing bleeding. However, the rest of the crew aboard boat escaped unhurt.

A total of six fishermen, including the victim from Raja Nagar at Thangachimadam in Ramanathapuram district, had sailed into the sea earlier on Wednesday morning.

The Fisheries Department sources said they were informed around 7 am on Thursday that one fisherman aboard the boat was hurt on his eye after a rope hit. But only at noon, the department knew that the Lankan Naval personnel had opened fire at the boat, the sources said.

Condemning the attack, P Jesuraja, president of the Rameswaram Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association, sought intervention of both the Centre and the State government to prevent such brutal attack by the Lankan Navy and urged the need for safety for fishermen at sea.

This firing incident happened nearly after three years. In 2017, a 21-year-old fisherman K Britjo of Rameswaram became the victim of gunfire by the Lankan Navy personnelat mid-sea.

Moreover, Jesuraja also sought adequate compensation from the government to the victim’s family.

In the early hours of Thursday, the injured fisherman was taken to Rameswaram Government Hospital and later referred to a private eye care hospital in Madurai, Jesuraja said.

According to sources from the private eye hospital, the injured fisherman was brought in at 6.41 am on Thursday. After the patient was scanned, he underwent corneal tear repair surgery and as per the doctor’s advice, the patient required retinal surgery, which could be done on Friday, thesources said.