Four fishermen, natives of coastal village Pudupettai in Tharangambadi taluk, Mayiladuthurai district, were allegedly attacked and robbed of their belongings by a group of unidentified persons mid-sea, early on Saturday, while they were fishing several nautical miles off the Kodiyakkarai coast.
This is the eighth such incident since August this year. Over 40 fishermen who have ventured into sea from various coastal parts of Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts have suffered mid-sea attacks .
Sources at the Coastal Security Group said V. Senthil Kumar, 38; J. Madhan, 20; V. Sivakumar, 50 and S. Nithyanandham, 16, all natives of the fishermen’s colony in Pudupettai, were staying temporarily in Kodiyakkarai near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district. They went fishing in a fibreglass boat on the afternoon of Friday, November 3, 2023. When they were fishing to the east of Kodiyakkarai coast on Saturday around 4 a.m., three unidentified persons, suspected to be Sri Lankans, who came in a fibreglass boat intercepted them Two of them boarded the fishermen’s boat and assaulted the fishermen with a wooden log. In the assault, Senthil Kumar suffered bleeding injuries on his head, while Madhan suffered wounds on his left leg, while the two others suffered internal injuries.
The assailants took away a battery, a GPS device, fish catches, and torchlights. The fishermen managed to return to the Kodiyakkarai coast on Saturday around 9 a.m. They were administered first-aid at the Primary Health Centre in Kodiyakkarai and later admitted as inpatients at the Government Hospital in Vedaranyam for treatment.
The Vedaranyam Marine Police of the Coastal Security Group have registered a case and further investigations are on.
