Tamil Nadu: Nine fishermen attacked and looted by Srilankan pirates

Nine Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu were attacked and robbed off mid-sea while they were fishing in the east of Kodaikkarai coast, police said on Wednesday. The incident occurred on Tuesday night, October 16. Notably, this is the sixth such attack on Tamil fishermen in the past two months.

The fishermen, who were attacked and robbed off their belongings in mid-sea, complained to the police that the attackers were suspected to be from Sri Lankan and were speaking Tamil.

Police said that N. Subramanian ( 50), A. Murugesan (45), A. Sundaramoorthy (49), C. Rajagopal (63 ) and S. Mahalingam (60), natives of Vanavanmahadevi near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district had ventured into the sea on the afternoon of Tuesday.

The victims told police that while they were fishing in mid-sea off Kodaikarai coast, four men allegedly Sri Lankans intercepted them and two persons boarded the boat and attacked the fishermen and tied three of them to the boat. They stole 600 kg of fishing net, GPS system and other materials in the boat.

The pirates then located another fishing boat and entered it and attacked N. Selvam (36), S. Muruganantham (37), M. Subramanian (36) and R. Shanmughavel (34).

They also took away torches, catches, gadgets and fishing nets.

All nine fishermen reached the shores on Wednesday early morning and were admitted to Government Medical College, Nagapattinam.