NAGAPATTINAM: 11 fishermen from Pushpavanam village in Nagapattinam district were allegedly assaulted and robbed of their equipment by assailants from Sri Lanka in two incidents on Sunday night. The attacks allegedly took place in the sea, southeast of Kodiyakarai.
Sources said V Panneerselavm (45), N Nagamuthu (46) and A Rajendran (56) went into the sea from Pushpavanam on a motorised boat on Sunday afternoon. They were fishing about 16 nautical miles from Kodiyakarai around 9 pm, when three unidentified assailants, allegedly from Sri Lanka, came on a motorised boat and asked them to hand over their catch and equipment. When the fishermen refused, the group assaulted them and took their nets, fishing rods, cold storage boxes, GPS, VHF and a battery.
The second incident took place about an hour later. S Bhuvaneshwaran (22), N Udhayakumar (50), N Tamilselvan (32) S Jegadesswaran (20), U Vignesh (27), K Kabilan (20), R Sudhan (18) and J Joseph Castro (25) of Pushpavanam were fishing in two motorised boats 30 nautical miles from Pushapavanam.
Seven unidentified assailants, allegedly from Sri Lanka, came in three motorised boats, assaulted them and took their fishing rods, fuel, tools, cold storage box, GPS, torchlights, signal lights and their catch.
Three fishermen who sustained injuries in the first incident reached Arukatuthurai on Monday morning and were rushed to hospital for treatment. The second group of fishermen also returned to Pushpavanam.
Two cases have been registered at the Vedarnyam Marine Police Station based on complaints from the fishermen.