One killed in SLN attack on Mannar fishermen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 July 2001, 19:42 GMT]
A fisherman was killed when Sri Lanka Navy Fast Attack Craft opened fire on local fishing boats in the seas off Silavathurai on the southern coast of the Mannar district around 7.30 a.m. Thursday morning. Josephthaasan Cruz, 36, father of four, was shot dead in his boat. His colleague, Soosaithasan Mary Alphonse, 25, escaped the attack.

Their boat was damaged by SLN the fire, according to Soosaithasan. Fishermen who brought Josephthaasan's body to the Mannar base hospital told Tamilnet that the other boats fishing in that area fled to the shore to escape the SLN attack.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission office in Vavuniya said that two fishermen from Kokkuppadaiyaan in Silavathurai who were reported missing at sea since 2 July are in detention at the Sri Lanka army camp in Vavuniya.

Raju Mariyasiluvai, 28, and his father T. Sothi Cruz, 50, had set out to fish in the seas off Silavathurai on 2 July. Relatives reported later that the two men had gone missing. HRC sources said that it was not clear to as to how the two fishermen who went missing in the high seas off Silavathurai could turn up in the detention center of the Vavuniya army camp.

HRC officials said that they are trying to visit Cruz and his son in the camp to see their condition.