Kanyakumari fisherman shot dead by pirates on Persian Gulf

KANYAKUMARI: In the second such incident this year, a Kanyakumari fisherman was on Thursday morning shot dead by pirates on the Gulf waters. District collector Sajjansingh R Chavan confirmed the incident.
The deceased has been identified as A Anish, 21, from Enayamputhanthurai coastal village. He had been working in a Qatari fishing boat.
"We are yet to understand where and when it happened.But the fishing boat has been rescued by the Bahraini Coast Guard and has been kept in Bahrain," collector Chavan said.
According to sources from the coastal village, Anish had set out for fishing along with four other fishermen, all from Kanyakumari district. While they were fishing in the Persian Gulf early on Thursday morning, Iranian pirates opened fire on the fishing boat, killing Anish, said Fr Churchill, general secretary of South Asian Fishermen Federation in Kanyakumari.
The fishermen fled with their boat to Bahraini waters, seeking help from the Bahraini coast guard. They were escorted to Bahrain and the body of Anish has been kept in a government hospital there, Churchill said.
"We appeal to the state government to repatriate the body of the fisherman to his native village and to offer solatium to the grieving family," he added.
The unmarried youth had been staying in Qatar for the last few years. His family is trying to reach out to the boat captain Leenus to get more information, sources said.
On May 29 this year, Siluvai Mathivalan from Pozhikkarai coastal village in Kanyakumari was similarly shot dead on Gulf water by Iranian pirates. Mathivalan was working for a fishing boat in Saudi Arabia.
In May, 2014, Thomas Soosai, 48, from Rajakkamangalamthurai coastal village was shot dead by pirates off the Bahrain coast.
The repeated incidents of pirate attacks have created panic among the fishermen in the region. They say diplomatic measures could be taken with the Iranian government and other Gulf countries to curb piracy in the Persian Gulf, which is turning dangerous for fishermen. Fishermen community from Kanyakumari, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin and Tiruneveli districts are involved in fishing industry in almost all the Middle Eastern countries.