Ramanathapuram: Suspecting foul play in the ‘missing’ of her son who had gone to Mangalore on contract fishing, a woman urged the district administration to take up the issue with the State government and help her get back her son.
In a petition submitted to Collector S. Natarajan on Monday, M. Muthumari of Rameswaram said her son M. Kumar (24) had gone to Mangalore on contract fishing, and went missing under mysterious circumstances nearly a month ago.
She said her son, who used to go for deep-sea fishing, had been in touch with her during August and September, but did not contact her since the first week of October. When she contacted the driver of the boat and two other fishermen who used to accompany him while fishing, they gave contradictory answers.
While one said he fell into the sea and went missing, another one said he was rescued, but he went missing after returning to the shore, she said. Her son had told her that he would come home for Deepavali, she said and suspected foul play in his sudden disappearance.
S. Namburaj, maternal uncle of Kumar, who had been working in Mangalore on contract fishing for nearly 10 years, said Raja, the driver of the boat, was presently in Kilakarai, but he failed to answer phone calls. As the driver of the boat, he was the custodian of all the 10 fishermen who ventured into the sea for fishing in his boat, but he gave contradictory statements, he said.
He said Kumar, who was fishing in Rameswaram, joined him on contract fishing after Sri Lankan Navy stepped up attacks on Rameswaram fishermen. In the deep-sea fishing in Mangalore, the fishermen would be in the sea for nearly 10 days before they returned to the shore, Mr. Namburaj said.
They used to go for fishing thrice a month and get a payment of Rs. 8,000 per trip if the catch was sold for about Rs. 5 lakh. They took only three days off in a month and for the rest of the days, they would be on the high seas, he added.
