Lankan Navy attacks Indian fishing boats with soda bottles, stones; chases away boats

The fishermen, who returned to Rameswaram fishing jetty on Sunday after the brutal mid-sea attack, told media that the Sri Lankan Naval patrol vessels pelted stones and soda bottles indiscriminately on their boats at mid sea.

The attack which began on Saturday evening went till midnight, forcing the fishermen to retreat from the IMBL with huge losses. However, no one was injured in the attack.

The fishers alleged that Lankan naval men also cut off the fishing nets of few boats, while many other boats fled the zone abandoning their nets cast on the sea fearing arrest.  Several boats incurred a loss between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 in the attack, they said.

Around 3000 fishermen had set sail into the sea for fishing from Rameswaram on Saturday morning.

This is the third vicious attack on Indian fishermen by the Island nation’s maritime forces within a fortnight.

Fishermen associations strongly condemned the attack on innocent fishers and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use diplomatic channels to curb the violent attacks.