Tamil fishermen attacked in Sandy Cove

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 December 2002, 15:21 GMT]
A group of Sinhalese fishermen Thursday evening attacked Tamil fishermen preventing them from fishing near Sandy Cove in Trincomalee sea claiming that the particular area in the sea belongs to the Sinhala fishermen and that the Tamil fishermen are forbidden from using that area, fisheries sources said.

Fishermen Anton, 32 and Jegatheeswaran, 20 received injuries in the attack, sources said.

The Sinhala group had damaged the boats of the Tamil fishermen and dumped the oil tanks, outboard motor engines and the fishing gear in the sea. Tamil fishermen with difficulty managed to salvage their fishing nets and outboard motor engines from the sea, sources said.

The matter has been brought to the notice of the law enforcement authorities, fisheries sources said.