4 Indian fishermen killed as Lanka Navy rams boat

India on Thursday lodged a “strong protest” with Sri Lankan foreign minister Dinesh Gunawardena in Colombo over the death of three Indian fishermen and a Sri Lankan national in a “collision” between their vessel and a Sri Lankan naval craft.

New Delhi also emphasised to Colombo the “need to deal with issues pertaining to fishermen in a humanitarian manner” and adherence to the “existing understandings between the two governments” in this regard, adding that “utmost efforts should be made (by Sri Lanka) to ensure that there is no recurrence” of such an incident.

The tragic incident reportedly took place three days ago after which the Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday recovered the bodies of the four deceased.

The Indian Tamil fishermen claim that the Sri Lankan Navy deliberately rammed a fishing boat resulting in the deaths while the Sri Lankan Navy has reportedly claimed that it was the fishing boat that collided with its naval craft after the Indian fishermen were resisting arrest for fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

Fishermen on Thursday launched a black flag protest in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu.

The Federation of Traditional fishermen of Rameswaram also filed a Habeas corpus petition in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on the issue on Thursday, said Chinnathambi, coordinator of the federation.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, meanwhile, announced a relief of `10 lakh each to the families of the dead fishermen.

He also promised compensation for the boat that was sunk and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the issue with Sri Lanka.