CHENNAI: Four missing fishermen return from Colombo

Picture Courtesy: J Manoharan

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on January 7, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/four-missing-fishermen-return-from-colombo/237519.html

CHENNAI: Four Kasimedu fishermen, who went missing on December 4 from deep sea off Chennai coast and rescued by a Sri Lankan fishing trawler 10 days later, have returned from Colombo on Thursday.

After sustained efforts by the Fisheries Minister K P P Samy and a few fishermen welfare organisations in the city, all of them were released in Colombo yesterday earlier and sent back to Chennai.

The four fishermen, Ramesh, Rajesh, Desappan and Jeyakumar, were residents of Indira Nagar in Kasimedu. Family members, who gathered at the airport, could not control their emotions once they got a glimpse of their breadwinners after a month. Speaking to Express, Rajesh, one of the youngest members of the team, said, “We would not have been alive today, if we were not rescued by the Sri Lankan fishermen at the right time.”

M D Dayalan, president of Indian Fishermen Association and who actively pursued their release from Lanka, told Express that they had left the Chennai Fishing Harbour on December 4 in a small fibre boat and were hit by a stormy weather causing extensive damage to the fishing craft.
Dayalan said: “Though they survived the first few days with their little food and water they carried with them, but they were forced to fill their stomach by drinking salty sea water as days progressed. After 10 days, they were found by a Lankan fishing trawler and seeing the Indian fishermen’s condition, they lifted them to their boat deck and offered water and food.”

Since they transgressed into Lankan maritime boundary, Lankan fishermen handed them over to the China Bay Police in Trincomalee through the Sri Lankan Navy on December 17. 
After recording their statements, the fishermen were admitted in the Trincomalee hospital for medical examination. Later, they were shifted to Mirihana Detention Unit for foreigners without visa, located near Colombo for customary detention.


Once their presence was confirmed to us through friends from Lankan fishing industry, we started pressuring the government to speed up their repatriation and as a result, they landed here on Thursday, he added. Later, they met Fisheries Minister Samy.