Three sea tigers die in boat blast

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 February 2003, 11:57 GMT]
Three cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Friday afternoon around 12.40 p.m.killed themselves by blowing up their trawler following an inspection by the monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, SLMM sources said.

The full text of the press release by the Norwegian embassy follows:

"On 7 February an incident on a Sea Tiger vessel near the Delft islands resulted in the tragic loss of three lives.

The situation leading up to the incident had been discussed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 6 February. On the evening of the same day, the parties agreed on a procedure to resolve the matter by asking the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to conduct an inspection of the vessels involved to clarify the situation. Due to an apparent communication failure between the LTTE naval commander and the cadres on board one vessel, the crew members were not informed of the agreed procedure, and the cadres set fire to the vessel and took their own lives.

In cooperation with the SLMM, the parties will review existing procedures in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.

The ongoing session of peace talks will continue as scheduled."