Missing fisherman found in Mullaithivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 1999, 09:06 GMT]
Six Muslim fishermen of Valaichenai who were reported missing since March 23 have been located in Mullaithivu their relatives said today. The two boats in which they had set out had been pulled by powerful deep sea current towards the Mullaithivu coast.

The relatives said that they are under the LTTE's care now and that the ICRC is making arrangements to bring them back to Batticaloa. Valaichenai is 38 km. north of Batticaloa.

The fishermen had set out to the deep seas off the island's eastern sea board in two fibre glass boats, one, 32 foot vessel bearing the registration no.216 and the other 28 foot bearing serial no.96.

Relatives and fishermen in Valaichenai began a search in the sea after March 26, the day on which they were expected to return.

Recently they had heard from fishermen in Trincomalee that two boats from Valaichenai had drifted to the Mullaithivu coast.

The ICRC was contacted. The organisation's office in the Vanni had checked out and visited the six Valaichenai fishermen who are currently at Manalpiddy in the Mullaithivu.

The ICRC has suggested that they could go to Batticaloa with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC) branch in Vavuniya.

The six Muslim fisher men, M.U Samsudeen 38, M.A Junaideen, 22, A.B Kaalideen 20, T.L Mustapha 55, A.H MOhammed Aliyaar, 27, M.E Mustapha, 34, however are unable to travel back to Valaichenai now as they do not have their national identity cards.

Their relatives told the Valaichenai TamilNet correspondent today that the ICRC delegation in Batticaloa has collected the Identity Cards to be sent to the Vanni to enable the fishermen's return.