Three fishermen in Bangladesh jailPublished

Published on 29-ஜூலை


G சரவணன்
Chennai, July 28:
THE agonising wait for the families of eight missing Kasimedu fishermen continues as information about their whereabouts is not coming in from any official source. However, three of them, Mahendran, Desingh and Thangaraj, reportedly reached Bangladesh and are now imprisoned there.Speaking to Express, Mahendran’s wife, Vijayalakshmi, who has two small children, said it was a phone call that rekindled the family’s hope that her husband was alive and safe.Vijayalakshmi said: “Two weeks ago on one Sunday, out of desperation, I was trying my husband’s mobile number continuously. All of a sudden, I found that his phone was ringing but my further attempts went in vain. Since I am confident that he is safe somewhere, I asked my brother-in-law to recharge his mobile number and my wish finally came true,” she added.Within minutes, Mahendran from an undisclosed location contacted his boat owner Balaji over his mobile phone and confirmed that only three people (out of eight) were able to reach shore and were now in Bangladesh. The message of being alive has been passed almost immediately to the three families and it has brought relief to them. But for the remaining families, their hopes have not faded away and they wish that their bread-winners would also be safe. It may be noted that Desingh, who is now in Bangladesh had returned only eight months ago from Sri Lanka after his boat drifted in high sea and reached northern Sri Lanka. They were rescued by Lankan fishermen and they returned to India after six weeks.