KANNIYAKUMARI: Lok Sabha member Vijay Vasanth and fishermen associations have urged the centre to take steps to rescue more than 1,000 stranded Kanniyakumari fishermen, who are caught in the crossfire between Iran and Israel war.
In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, Vasanth said the US intervention in the war has further escalated tensions in West Asia and consequently the TN fishermen reportedly trapped in high-risk zones there are struggling to get out of the place.
The MP urged the minister to take steps to rescue the TN fishermen employed in the marine sector in Iran and Israel and bring them back home safely. A press release quoted the MP as saying in the letter that “bringing the fishermen back home safely was the main duty of the government”.
South Asian Fishermen Fraternity general secretary Fr A Churchil told TNIE that a fisherman, Thadeuse from Colachel in Kanniyakumari, contacted him on Sunday from Iran, saying that around 700 TN fishermen, mostly from the district, were stranded at Kish without any transport facilities. International Fishermen Development Trust president P Justin Antony too urged the centre to rescue the fishermen.