3 fishermen missing, 2 injured as navy rams boats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 January 2003, 15:08 GMT]
Three fishermen were reported missing and two others seriously wounded when Sri Lanka Navy Dvora gunboats rammed two fishing boats in the northern sea in two separate incidents, Monday night, Jaffna fisheries sources said.

In the first incident, a SLN Dvora gunboat rammed a fishing boat around 7 p.m. Monday night off the coast of Thondamanaru. Two fishermen, Sinnathamby Sothilingam (50) and his son Kandeepan (20) of Kerudavil were wounded and another 32-year-old Ponnan Gnaneswaran was reported missing when the boat capsized in the midsea, Vadamarachchi Fisheries Co-operative Societies Federation sources said.

The wounded were taken to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) hospital in Palaly, fisheries sources said.

In the second incident that took place Monday around 7 p.m. in the sea off Polikandy two fishermen were reported missing when a SLN Dvora gunboat rammed a fishing boat. The missing fishermen were identified as Subramaniam Jeyakumar (35), father of five and 36-year-old Kasinathar Satkunam, the sources said.

Fisheries Federation sources made complaints in this regard to the Police and action has been taken to trace the missing fishermen in the sea, civilian sources said.

In the meantime, the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri The SLN commander said he has ordered the eastern command of the SLN to hold an inquiry into the death of a fisherman at Mutur. Muslim fisherman died when a SLN craft rammed a plastic fishing boat in Mutur seacoast, sources said.