Rameswaram: One fisherman was injured in an alleged mid-sea attack by a group of Sri Lankan fishermen off Kodiakkarai coast in Nagapattinam district on Thursday.
The Lankan fishermen, who came in four boats, attacked four fishermen hailing from Vedaranyam when they were fishing a few knots from the coast and robbed their fishing catch, mobile phones and GPS equipment before fleeing the scene. The injured fisherman, identified as Vijayendran, was brought to the coast and treated at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the mechanized boat fishermen here alleged that they were chased away by the Sri Lankan Navy after destroying the fishing nets near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) off Katchatheevu Island.
The fishermen, who returned to Rameswaram fishing jetty following the attack, told newsmen that the Sri Lankan Navy personnel, who came in fast attack patrol crafts, destroyed lakhs of rupees worth fishing nets cast on the sea and threatened them to leave the zone.
After the warning issued by the Lankan Navy, many other fishermen fled the zone abandoning their nets cast on the sea fearing arrest.
Several boats have incurred losses to the tune of Rs 50,000 each, they said.
Around 2,000 fishermen had set sail into the sea for fishing from Rameswaram on Wednesday morning. This is the second attack on Indian fishermen by the Island nation’s maritime forces this month.