Last lap to freedom blasted by gunfire

A fishing expedition ends in capture by LTTE cadres. 13 months later, the fishermen break free but not all of them get home alive

In a real life drama, reminiscent of the now showing popular TV series Prison Break, 14 fishermen dared to escape the clutches of the LTTE after 13 months, trekked tough terrain for seven days, surviving on roasted pittu and sugar, but only eight reached their destination.

Recounting their ordeal, 39 year-old Antony Fernando from Kudapaduwa, Negombo said he led the fisheremen to sea in two trawlers – “Shyami Putha” and “Sujani Duwa” from Kalpitiya in February last year.

Within hours, seven of those on board the two boats were seized by armed cadres and taken to an unknown destination and held for one month, before being blind folded and taken on a six hour boat ride where they encountered six more Sinhala-speaking fishermen.

“We were then put into a vehicle and taken to a house in which we were placed in an iron cage like contraption and were given a cup of gram each for our meals. Our work included building bunkers and cutting firewood,” Mr. Fernando who has returned home told The Sunday Times.

He said they had pleaded with their captors to let them call home to inform them that were alive but they were not allowed to do so.“One month later we decided to escape. We did this by removing the tiles from the roof. However, on escaping we had to cross a lagoon and two of our colleagues drowned. Very soon another two in our group fell ill so we decided to go back and surrender to the LTTE. We were put back in the same detention cell,” he said.

He said, in a move to deter the men from escaping again the LTTE ordered them to wear red T shirts and photographed all of them warning them that they would be shot if they attempted to get away.

“Things started to get difficult for us. We were allowed to bathe only once in eight days and we were put into separate cells and assaulted,” Mr. Fernando said recalling some of the harrowing experiences.

“We were given Pittu with Monkey flesh. When anyone fell ill no medicines were given. Some times red ants were put into the cells as a form of punishment. We could not endure the treatment anymore and we decided once again to escape. However, this time we planned it all out over a period of three months. There was a map in the place in which we were being detained which we were able to study from our cells. The map indicated short cuts, LTTE points and waterways. We also studied the times of sunrise, sunset and the movement of the stars.

“One day when an Air Force jet was flying very low, the cadres fearing that the place where we were being kept would be targeted, shifted us to some cells in the jungles. This gave us the opportunity to execute our plan.

“The first time we tried to escape we realized food was a problem. So this time we started collecting the pittu they gave us for over a month, dried it and roasted it on a fire. We also collected the spoonful of sugar that was given to us each time we had tea. On the day of the escape we managed to get hold of a small frying pan, a box of matches and a small bottle of kerosene oil.

“The Tigers never allowed us to sleep continuously, waking us up on an hourly basis. On this particular day too we were woken up around 10 p.m. and allowed to go to the toilet. Usually all of us were taken to the toilet at the same time. Around 12 midnight they woke us up for the third time. A little later we told we wanted to go to the toilet again, they scolded us and said we were troublesome, but they didn’t follow us closely,” Mr. Fernando said.

They made use of this brief respite to break free through the fence. They started running as soon as they got out of the premises, but they encountered their first hurdle in the form of a group of LTTE cadres. They spent two days rooted to the same spot before they could start moving again. One in the group fell sick and they had to leave him behind.

“We left him behind reluctantly. We don’t know what would have happened to him,” Mr. Fernando said. They walked for about five more days until they reached a village with many abandoned houses. One of them climbed a tree and spotted a communications tower and realized they were close to Vavuniya. They moved further and reached another small village with a few houses. The group had Rs. 1000 among them and they sent the youngest member into the village asking him to find a shop and buy something or even rob something.

“He managed to rob some rice from a house. We were so hungry since the pittu was over we decided to cook the rice then and there. We didn’t realize that the smoke had alerted the Tigers who were stationed about 800 metres away.

“Soon we were running again, closely chased by LTTE cadres. One of them fired into the air shouting at us to stop running but we didn’t. We kept running until we came across a row of bunkers with armed men. At this juncture we gave up hope, believing that we had fallen into the hands of the LTTE again and decided to surrender.

“We pleaded in Tamil and said not to hurt us as we wanted to surrender. But we were fired upon and three of our colleagues were hit by the gun fire,” Mr. Fernando said recalling that painful moment.

“At this point I heard one of those shooting at us shouting, “Wijeratne Mehen fire Karanna, Wijeratna Mehen fire Karanna (Wijeratne fire from this side). Only then did we realize that we had encountered the Army. We immediately shouted back ‘Api Meegamuwen, apiwa beraganna (We are from Negambo, save us).

“The soldiers threw down their weapons and came running towards us apologizing for having fired at us. The funerals of those three men who had come so close to freedom but were shot by the Army who mistakenly thought they were Tigers, were held yesterday in Negombo and Kalpitiya while three others in the group are in hospital.