Two fishermen from Tamil Nadu suffered injuries when the fishing boat in which they were moving to Kollam from Kanyakumari came under fire allegedly by the Coast Guard off the Vizhinjam coast in Kerala on Monday evening after the boat failed to respond to warnings. The condition of the injured fishermen, Subin (20) and Clinton (22), was not serious.
Sources at the Coast Guard station in Kochi said that they had fired at the boat carrying nine fishermen after it failed to respond to the calls to stop for security check. They said the force resorted to firing after issuing the mandatory warnings in the form of instructions to the boat, Rishika owned by Jasmin George of Kollam, to stop, warning fire and firing in the air.
Clinton said that they did not stop the boat in accordance with the Coast Guard’s instructions as two of the nine fishermen on board were school students and did not have fishermen’s ID cards. Clinton suffered injury in the arm while Subin, a student, was injured in the leg. Both were admitted to Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
However, Jasmin George said the fishermen, fatigued after ten days of work, might not have heard the instructions as most of them could have been sleeping. The boat, which had left the Neendakara harbour in Kollam ten days ago, was coming back from Kanyakumari with catch when the incident took place. Rishika was registered in Alappuzha.
According to the Coast Guard, its vessel had fired two rounds at the boat – and not at the fishermen on board. It said the boat did not have the required papers and none of the fishermen aboard had identity papers. Subin, a student, was subjected to emergency surgery for removal of the bullet lodged in his leg. Both Clinton and Subin belonged to Kulachal in Tamil Nadu.
The sea off Vizhinjam had been under constant and enhanced surveillance since the recent incident off the Gujarat coast and this was the reason why the Coast Guard issued instructions to Rishika to stop for inspection. The incident took place in the sea between the coastal points of Beemapalli and Sanghummukham in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Coast Guard took the fishing boat into custody after the firing and it was brought to the Vizhinjam coast. The remaining seven fishermen, all reportedly from Kulachal, were being questioned at the coastal police station in Vizhinjam.