A group of fishermen from Nagapattinam, who set out for fishing in two boats, were attacked and robbed in mid-sea, allegedly by Sri Lankan pirates, a fisheries department official said on Thursday. One fisherman sustained severe head injuries while three others were also injured in the attack, the official said.Following the incident on Wednesday night, the men returned to the district. The affected fishers, who were from Seruthur village in the district, claimed that the pirates attacked and looted their fishing nets, equipment, and catch. As many as eight men had gone fishing in two vessels and they were totally caught unawares when a group stealthily came in a mechanised boat, got into their fishing craft, and attacked them indiscriminately.”The attacks by ‘pirates’ have become a regular feature. And in the latest one, eight of our Nagapattinam fishermen were assaulted in mid-sea about 20 nautical miles east of Kodiyakarai,” said Indian National Fishermen Union president R M P Rajendira Nattar. Initially, the fishermen tried to repulse the attack targeted against them, but when one of the fishermen Senthilnathan(42), sustained injuries to the head, the fishers abandoned their plan and made haste to Nagapattinam coast, he said. After returning on Thursday morning, they rushed the injured to the Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital. Nattar has appealed to the state and central governments to take steps to protect the Tamil Nadu fishermen from such attacks in the future.
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