Bodies of 4 fishermen handed over to Coast Guard, buried in Ramnad

The tragic incident occurred at Neduntheevu in the night of January 18 when Sri Lankan naval ship allegedly collided with a boat, which bore registration numbers-‘646’, aboard four ill-fated fishermen. Those ill-fated fishermen were identified as Nagaraj of Tathanenthal, Messiah of Thangachimadam, Samson of Mandapam Refugee Camp and and Senthil Kumar of Uchipuli, who ventured into sea off Kottaipattinam of Pudukottai district in the morning of January 18, sources said.

The bodies were brought back to Thangachimadam and Ramanathapuram taluk by the Indian Coast Guard personnel and handed over to the State Fisheries Department on Saturday evening after post mortem examinations were conducted in a hospital at Jaffna.

Tension prevailed at Thangachimadam when the bodies were taken by Ambulance van without getting any attention of fellow fishers, who waited at Thangachimadam and got agitated over it, to graveyard.

B. Jesuraja, president, Rameswaram Mechanized Boat Owners Association, said their deaths were caused by the Lankan navy personnel, who chased down the ill-fated fishermen before colliding the boat at around 9 p.m. on January 18.

Once the ship collided, Messiah, one of the deceased and sailor, alerted the fellow fishers, who were engaged in fishing by other boats, by VHF communication system and screamed for help after he felt his boat was on the brink of collapse.

The boat capsized and those four fishermen aboard disappeared much to the shock of fellow fishers, who went in search of them.

The fellow fishers were informed by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard that those fishermen were detained and would be released after completing all formalities.

But later, the fellow fishers and relatives of those fishermen were crestfallen at the news that four of them were dead.

Fearing legal action following the collision, the personnel killed the fishermen deliberately. Hence, a fact finding committee should be formed to punish the guilty and criminal action should be initiated against them without fail.

Moreover, the Centre should ensure safety for Tamil Nadu fishermen and protect the fishermen from such attacks any further.

Ramnad Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver said among the deceased fishermen, one belonged to Thangachimadam and Keelakarai and two others from Ramanathapuram Taluk.

Earlier in the day, the bodies were handed over by the Sri Lankan navy to Indian Coastal Guard at the Kottaipattnam shore in Pudukkottai.

Thousands of fishers including the Health Minister paid tribute to the bodies and they were taken back to their respective villages in separate ambulances.

Minister C Vijaya Baskar, Pudukkottai District Collector Uma Maheswari, SP Balaji Saravanan, Deputy Director (Fisheries) Sharmila and other officials paid tribute to the bodies. Later, they were sent to their respective villages in separate ambulances.

The office bearers of the fishermen associations from Ramanathapuram and Pudukkottai and the kins of the deceased fishermen had demanded the re-postmortem. The demand was also put forward by DMK leader Kanimozhi.