News - Fishermen flee endangered islands

Over the past two days fishermen with their families and belongings have been arriving at the Kalpitiya jetty from the islands of Palliyawatta and Battalangunduwa after Tamil Tigers clashed with the Navy on Wednesday leaving five sailors dead.

The fishermen on the two islands fear they could be under threat prompting them to leave the islands and come to Kalpitiya with the intention of going back to their original homes mainly in and around the Negombo area.

Some fishermen who witnessed the attack on the sailors decided to leave the islands with their families prompting an exodus of civilians. A similar exodus was witnessed from Trincomalee, and Mannar and thereafter from villages on the border of the North Central Province with the Northern Province, after the attack near Kebitigollewa.

However, the difference was that most fishermen fleeing their fishing grounds had witnessed violence for the first time in the Kalpitiya area which had been relatively incident-free during the last few months though some areas north of Kalpitiya had come under attack.

The Palliyawatta and Battalangunduwa islands are located some 30 nautical miles off Kalpitiya town with around 1,500 persons living on these two islands. The majority of them live in Battalangunduwa which is the larger island.

According to the fishermen they had first witnessed a group of LTTE cadres at the location known as Kudremalai Point and alerted the police and the Navy. Two water jets of the Navy had arrived soon after and the Sea Tigers had confronted them. Fishermen in the deep sea in their trawlers had witnessed the clash which lasted about half an hour.The fishermen said they saw two Tiger boats coming under attack, but were not sure of the casualties. The fishermen also said they had witnessed one gunner on the naval craft being hit by a bullet and thereafter noticed the boat moving towards the Palliyawatta island. They said they noticed four Tiger dinghies following the boat and firing rocket propelled grenades setting the boat ablaze. Two sailors had been seen jumping into the sea and swimming ashore when one of them was hit by gunfire and killed. The other was rescued by the fishermen despite danger to their lives, they said.

The fishermen said they had been fired on by the Tigers, but none of them were hurt while the Tigers remained for more than an hour witnessing the boat being destroyed by fire.

They said it was about three hours later that they saw a helicopter in the area.

The fishermen and families moving out of the islands said they regretted leaving the islands and added that unless additional security was given to them they were not sure as to when they could return.

Sabeetha Sanjeewani, a mother of one child, told The Sunday Times that after she witnessed the attack she felt it was dangerous to live there.

“There are only five policemen on the island. We cannot rely on their security”, she said.

Sarath Kumara who was also an eyewitness to the clash said he saw female Tiger cadres among the attackers.

“What I witnessed was chilling. How can we remain on the island as we will not be spared if we get caught to them. We are leaving with our families and plan to live with relatives,” he said.

He said he was aware his income would be affected as he was solely dependent on fishing for his livelihood. W.Kularatne of Palliyawatta said he would return to the islands only after the situation returns to normal.

Kalpitiya, Assistant Government Agent M.K. Muhaiz told The Sunday Times he had received reports that the fishermen were leaving the islands following the attack but assured that additional security measures would be provided by the Navy.