Representative image showing a fishing boat.
Credit: PTI file photo
Chennai: A Sri Lankan Naval vessel deliberately rammed into their fishing boat resulting in it capsizing, causing injuries to them and damage to fishing gear and other equipment worth lakhs of rupees, fishermen hailing from Nagapattinam district alleged on Wednesday.
Fishermen, including Sakthivel, told reporters in Nagapattinam that while four of them were in a boat for fishing near the Kodiyakkarai coast on September 10 evening, the foreign vessel signalled them to slow down.
While they complied immediately and raised their hands, the Naval boat just rammed into their boat, which capsized. They were thrown into the sea and got entangled in the fishing nets and sustained injuries and had to gasp and struggle.
Fishing nets, GPS-based communication devices, ice-box to store fish, mobile phones were all damaged and all were worth about Rs 6.5 lakh. "Only the boat did not sink. Nets were cut and thrown away by them." The fishermen said, the Lankan Naval personnel, however, provided life jackets and eventually they were rescued by other fishers. Later, after struggling for several hours, they managed to turn the capsized boat and tow it to the fishing harbour.