Two Indian fishermen missing: Sri Lanka Navy

Colombo: Two Indian fishermen were reported missing, while two others swam safely to Kachchatheevu Island on Tuesday after an Indian vessel capsized near the sea border with India, according to the Sri Lankan Navy.

Kachchatheevu Island is in the Palk Strait, which is a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka. It is a rich fishing ground attracting both countries’ fishermen, who are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters.

“Two Indian fishermen were reported missing, while two others swam safely to Kachchatheevu Island on Tuesday after a boat carrying four Indian fishermen met with an accident in the seas near the island,” news portal Adaderana.lk reported.

The incident occurred earlier today, prompting a swift response from the Sri Lanka Navy, another news portal NewsFirst.lk said quoting Navy spokesperson Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya who said that the two who were in danger after the vessel overturned, were successfully rescued.

The search and rescue operation is ongoing to locate the missing Indian fishermen, it said.

On August 1, an Indian fisherman was killed and another went missing following a collision between a Sri Lankan naval vessel and an Indian fishing boat allegedly poaching in the island nation's territorial waters.

On June 25, a senior sailor from the Sri Lanka Navy Special Boat Squadron died in an incident blamed by the Sri Lanka Navy on the "aggressive manoeuvres of an Indian trawler, resisting its seizure.” Meanwhile, in another incident late on Monday, the Sri Lanka Navy apprehended eight Indian fishermen along with an Indian fishing trawler for illegally poaching in Sri Lankan waters off Mannar.

The interception was carried out during a regular patrol conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy in the northern waters, Adaderana.lk reported.

The seized trawler, together with the eight Indian fishermen, was brought to the Talaimannar Harbour and will be handed over to the Thalaimannar Fisheries Inspector for onward legal proceedings, it said.

With this, the Sri Lanka Navy said it has seized a total of 46 Indian trawlers and arrested 341 Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lankan waters in 2024.

Earlier last week, 11 Indian fishermen were arrested, and their trawler seized off the coast of Point Pedro in Jaffna in the northern province, the Sri Lankan Navy had said and added that those apprehended were brought to the Kankesanthurai fishing harbour for further action.

The fishermen issue remains a contentious one in the India-Sri Lanka bilateral ties, 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.