Four fishermen from Andhra Pradesh are finally heading home after spending 52 days locked up in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna Jail. They’ll arrive back in Kakinada on September 30, wrapping up a tense ordeal that started with a simple fishing trip gone wrong.
The group—K. Srinu Venkateswar, Karri Nookaraj Borriya, Chanda Nageswara Rao, and Brahmanandam—set sail from the Sri Lankan coast toward Kakinada on September 27. Their boat, escorted by the Indian Coast Guard, follows Sri Lankan rules for sea repatriation of Indian fishermen detained in Sri Lanka.
Indian officials handed them over on Friday after weeks of diplomatic push. The Sri Lankan Coast Guard transferred the men to the Indian Coast Guard at Mandapam Camp on September 26, and they began their journey from there.
It all began on August 4 when the fishermen, out from Andhra Pradesh, drifted into Sri Lankan waters. They had sailed to nearby Nagapattinam to buy a second-hand fishing trawler, but a GPS glitch steered them off course. The Sri Lankan Navy quickly arrested them, and they’ve been in Jaffna Jail ever since.
A Jaffna civil court stepped in on September 12, ordering their release. Officials handed them over at the International Maritime Boundary Line, but procedural hiccups delayed things until September 26.
Andhra Pradesh state government reps at AP Bhavan in New Delhi worked hard on the case, raising it with India’s Ministry of External Affairs. The Indian High Commission in Colombo jumped into action, coordinating with Sri Lankan authorities. Rajya Sabha member Sana Satishbabu noted that the Indian Coast Guard even reached out directly to Sri Lankan Coast Guard Commander Dinesh Jay.
The High Commission shared on social media that they secured the safe return “in close cooperation with the government of Sri Lanka and with the support of the Indian and Sri Lankan Navies and Coast Guards.” For families in Andhra Pradesh waiting anxiously, it’s a huge relief after months of worry over these Indian fishermen detained abroad.
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