Petrol bomb, country bomb attack on mechanised boat on high seas; one suffers serious burns

A mechanised boat fisherman from Tharuvaikulam suffered serious burns as a group of country boat fishermen lobbed country bombs and petrol bombs on the mechanised boat off Koothenkuzhi coast on Thursday evening.

When the mechanised boat owned by Thomas Surendran of T. Saveriyarpuram near Thoothukudi, which was operating from Tharuvaikuam Fish Landing Centre, was returning to the base after multi-day deep sea stay fishing, a group of fishermen in a few country boats hurled country-made bombs and Molotov cocktail on the mechanised boat, in which Periya Raj of Tharuvaikulam suffered serious burns on his face, hands and the back.

“As the petrol bombs landed on the fishnets and on the boat, fire badly damaged the fishnets worth ₹30 lakh and a portion of the boat. We managed to extinguish the flame with sea water and escaped from the attack. After launching similar attack on October 6 last, the mechanised boat of Vinodhan of Tharuvaikulam was forcibly hijacked to Koothenkuzhi by the country boat fishermen of this coastal hamlet where ‘kangaroo court’ was conducted to free the mechanised boat. After paying the ransom, the mechanised boat was released,” the fishermen in the mechanised boat said.

With injured Mr. Periya Raj, the boat continued to sail to reach Tharuvaikulam.

On getting information, Superintendent of Police N. Silambarasan asked the Koodankulam police to probe the incident.