Tamil Nadu: 8 fishermen detained by Iran return home

Chennai: Almost four months after they were detained by the Iranian Coast Guard for involuntarily straying into Iran waters, eight fishermen from Tamil Nadu returned home on Wednesday after intervention by government. Around 15 fishermen from Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts had gone to Dubai in May last year and were employed in fishing boats there.

On October 22 last year, the Iranian Navy arrested the fishermen for straying into their waters. The fishermen were then detained in Kish Island for the past four months with minimal rations. An Iranian court had reportedly imposed a fine on them, which had to be paid by their local sponsors in Dubai. Following this, Migrant Forum and National Domestic Workers Movement made representations seeking the release of the arrested fishermen and their early return to Tamil Nadu to the Indian embassy in Iran, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister and secretary of the fisheries department, government of Tamil Nadu, the Indian embassy in UAE.  

Embassy officials coordinated with the agents who employed the fishermen and struck a deal for the company to pay the fine amount to help the release of fishermen. On Wednesday, after four months of ordeal in foreign waters, eight fishermen reached Chennai by a flight from Dubai during the early hours of Wednesday. The fishermen who returned on Wednesday were identified as — C. Gladwin, Royappan Udayakumar, S. Chenkishkhan — all three from Uvari in Tirunelveli district, Yonas Gabriel of Tuticorin, S. Siluvai, Albert Newton, John Prakash and Jude Frank Jerbin of Kanyakumari district.

Six fishermen are expected to be released very soon and a fisherman reached India earlier. The fishermen, on their arrival at Chennai, were received by officials from the state government and a van was arranged to ferry them to their native villages.