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The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday arrested nine fishermen from Rameswaram and seized their boat for allegedly fishing across the border near Katchatheevu.
According to the Coastal Security Group police, the group was part of a larger contingent of 297 fishing boats that had set out from the Rameswaram Port on August 12 after being issued formal fishing permits. The seized vessel, registered as IND TN 10 MM 329, is owned by P Wellington, a resident of Thangachimadam Raja Nagar. The nine arrested fishermen have been identified as J Janathan (45), A Anthony Pichai (38), K Vellaichamy (51), M Prabhu (43), Arogya Jeniston (25), P Stevin (30), M Donbosco (55), V Arogya Devin (31), and Subbaiah (52). Following the arrest, the fishermen were taken to the Thalaimannar Naval Camp by the Sri Lankan Navy for further questioning. Earlier, on August 6, in a separate incident, 11 Indian fishermen were apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy near the Neduntheevu islet, after their fishing boat developed a technical snag while they were at sea, according to Congress MP Manickam Tagore. Tagore urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene through diplomatic channels for the immediate release and safe return of the fishermen. In a letter to Jaishankar, Tagore said the fishermen from Rameswaram, Pamban, Thangachimadam, and Keralam were apprehended in the early hours of August 6. According to Tagore, the fishermen had set sail after receiving tokens from the Rameswaram jetty. He said the boat, owned by a person named Ramesh, developed a severe technical problem during fishing, causing the vessel to lose control and drift into Sri Lankan waters. The Congress MP also requested the government to facilitate the recovery and return of the fishing boat to its owner. In his letter, Tagore said such incidents cause distress to coastal communities and claimed that mechanical failures could be misconstrued as deliberate crossings of maritime boundaries. He urged the Centre to work with Sri Lanka to establish a bilateral protocol for dealing with cases where fishing vessels cross maritime boundaries due to technical breakdowns or natural drift. Tagore said such a mechanism would help address incidents involving fishermen who unintentionally cross maritime boundaries under circumstances beyond their control and called for the safe recovery and repatriation of the fishing vessel. "I look forward to your swift intervention in securing the early release of our seafarers," Tagore said in his letter to Jaishankar. (ANI)
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