Colombo, Aug 2 (PTI) Twenty-one Indian fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy were repatriated and are on their way to Chennai from Colombo, the Indian High Commission here said on Friday.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo and the Indian Consulate in Jaffna in cooperation with the Sri Lankan government authorities had secured the release of the Indian fishermen.
“Returning home! 21 Indian fishermen have been successfully repatriated and are on their way to Chennai from Colombo,” the High Commission posted on X along with a photograph of the released fishermen.
Taking to X on Thursday, the Indian mission had said, “DHC @DrSatyanjal and other officials met the fishermen today, ascertained their well-being and assured their repatriation within a day.” The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.
An Indian fisherman was killed and another went missing following a collision on Thursday morning between a Sri Lankan naval vessel and an Indian fishing boat allegedly poaching in the island nation’s territorial waters.
In New Delhi, the Sri Lankan acting high commissioner was called to the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday and a strong protest was registered over the incident.
On June 25, a senior sailor from the Sri Lanka Navy Special Boat Squadron died in an incident blamed on “the aggressive manoeuvres of an Indian trawler, resisting its seizure,” the Sri Lankan Navy said.
The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries.
Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters. PTI SCY AKJ SCY SCY
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