The petitioners at the Collectorate in Ramanathapuram.
| Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR
Family members of five fishermen stranded in Somalia have submitted a petition to the district administration, appealing for their rescue. S. Muthuselvi, 50, from Mullimunai near Thondi in Ramanathapuram district, N. Kalaichelvi, 45, from Thiruppalaikudi, K. Sathya, 40, from Natarajapuram in Rameswaram, and R. Nadhiya, 26, have said in their petition that their husbands are stranded in Somalia without food and wages “In December last, Veerapandiyan and Samaya Kannan from Thiruppalaikudi took Sundaram, Nagaselvam, Kannan, Ramesh, and Kaleeswaran from Morpannai to Somalia for contract fishing work. After arriving there, they engaged in deep-sea boat fishing for five months. However, they were not paid wages for it. Following that, they were not provided with work either,” their petition said. “Consequently, with no means even for food, they are doing other daily wage labour. Still, they are without proper food,” the families added. The women said that Veerapandiyan and Samaya Kannan, who took them there, had returned to their hometowns, with the latter going to Malaysia. “Veerapandiyan claimed that he would retrieve the wage money. However, he has been deceiving us. Action must be taken against him, and steps should be taken to rescue the stranded fishermen who are without food and bring them back to their hometown.” In a video sent to their families, the fishermen had described their plight and that they were in a life-threatening situation and needed to be saved, they further said. Officials of the Fisheries Department have informed higher authorities that two fishermen, P. Ramesh and P. Kannan, were in Laasqoray and Bosaso. Published - June 30, 2026 07:25 pm IST
