Lankan Navy fires at Indian fishermen

Lankan Navy fires at Indian fishermen
Monday June 19 2006 00:00 IST

RAMANATHAPURAM: Tension gripped Rameswaram island as the Sri Lankan Navy opened fire at a fishing boat early on Sunday.

Namburajan (21), a fisherman of Natarajapuram in Rameswaram, sustained injuries in the firing. Sources said, Namburajan and three other fishermen � Nambuvel, Rajendran and Ramanathan of Rameswaram � had ventured into the sea on Saturday morning.

They were fishing off Katchativu when a Lankan Navy patrol came by and opened fire at the boat.

The fishermen immediately veered their boat around to return ashore, when one of the bullets hit Namburajan on his face, badly injuring him.

His boat-mates brought Namburajan ashore and admitted him to a hospital in Rameswaram, wherefrom he was shifted to Ramanathapuram Government Headquarters Hospital. He was then referred to Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital, where his condition is said to be critical.

Of the about 800 mechanised boats in operation on the island, as many as 709 boats, each carrying four fishermen went to sea on Saturday morning, sources said. Fisheries Department officials said an announcement on the war-like situation in Sri Lanka would be made to the fishermen from Monday onwards and they would be asked to be cautious.

Meanwhile, Namburajan�s mother Sethu Rani, told journalists in Madurai that she had lost her husband Nagalingam in 1993 in a firing by the Lankan Navy and now her son too had been shot at.
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