Indian national fleeing LTTE custody rescued

Rasika SOMARATHNA

COLOMBO: An Indian National who was kept under LTTE custody since 2003 has been rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy along with seven other Lankans while they were fleeing to India on a boat after escaping from tiger clutches.

The 28-year-old who identified himself as Selvam Sudesh Kannan from Madras said he had come to Sri Lanka on January 10, 2003 with three other Indian nationals holding Indian passports and had traveled to Kilinochchi to visit relatives.

Kannan describing his ordeal to the media yesterday said before reaching their intended destination, they had been arrested and interrogated by the LTTE under custody in the process inflicting serious physical torture.

After years in custody, Kannan had been assigned manual labour under the watchful eyes of the Tigers in one of their garages for about three months. Here he had befriended some Lankans and had decided to escape with their help but according to Kannan he was not aware of the fate of his three other friends.

The Navy had intercepted their boat near Talaimannar on Wednesday morning. According to the Navy, they have intensified search operations from Delft to Talaimannar to prevent supplies to the LTTE in addition to blocking their escape routes.

Since apprehending 289 Indian boats for poaching in Sri Lankan waters recently the Navy has not encountered a single Indian fishing boat so far in the Lankan waters, sources said.

Meanwhile, in another incident the Navy said that they had rescued an injured Sri Lankan fisherman 150 nautical miles north east of Trincomalee yesterday.