SLN gunboat rams fishing boat, killing one fisherman

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 March 2004, 11:03 GMT]
Mr.Nicholsamy Jeyasingham (35) of Point Pedro is reported to have been killed in northern sea Thursday night when a gunboat of the Sri Lanka Navy rammed the plastic boat in which he and two others went for fishing. The body of the missing fisherman has not been recovered till Friday evening, fisheries sources said.

Fisheries societies in the Vadamarachchi division have made arrangement to send about fifteen boats in search of the missing person, civil sources said.

This tragedy came to light Friday around 11 a.m. when some fishermen rescued the two other fishermen Mr. Muniappu Jeyarasa (44) and Mr.Joseph Anthonypillai (55) when they were struggling for life in the midsea. Both have been admitted to the Manthikai government hospital with injuries, sources said.

According to rescued fishermen their boat went under water soon after gunboat rammed it and later they learnt that Mr. Jeyasingham had been missing. They further said that the SLN gunboat did not stop but continued its journey, fisheries sources said.

The matter has been brought to the notice of the Jaffna head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the Regional Co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), sources said.