TIRUNELVELI: About 400 fishermen from Uvari, Koothankuli, Idinthakarai and Koottapuli of Tirunelveli district and Chinnamuttam and Thoothoor of Kanniyakumari district rescued over 10,000 people using their 72 boats across Tirunelveli district on Monday and Tuesday.
Thanking the fishermen, Minister Thangam Thennarasu told reporters that these fishers rescued people in various places including Tirunelveli Junction, Kokkirakulam, district collectorate, Sindhupoonthurai, CN Kiramam, Kurukkuthurai, Nochikulam, Munneerpallam, Cheranmahadevi and Ambasamudram.
"They shifted people to relief camps across the district risking their own lives," Thennarasu said.
When the TNIE met the fishermen in Tirunelveli junction on Tuesday, P Amalan and J Ajesh from Koottapuli said they volunteered to rescue people despite the fact that their families were also affected in their village. "We shifted our family members to a relief camp before we arrived in the flood-hit areas here. We saved thousands of people, including children and the elderly, who were stranded in their houses. We supplied food and milk to the city residents through our boats. Many of our boats got damaged while carrying them to different areas," said Ajesh.
Another fisherman, S Liberty, said they could not eat for the whole of Monday as they received several calls to rescue people from various places. S Micheal said many of his fellow fishermen also suffered injuries in the rescue bid.