A team of 141 people on 18 boats will set sail from the Tamil Nadu coast on Wednesday to repatriate 31 of the 81 boats released by the Sri Lankan government.
The salvage team consists of eight men and one boat from Mandapam, 14 men and two boats from Pudukottai and 119 men and 15 boats from Rameswaram. The team, consisting of mechanics, carpenters and fishermen, would repair and salvage the boats in two days` time, fishermen sources said.
Among the team from Rameswaram, six boats and 43 persons will go to Talaimannar while the rest will go to Karainagar fishing jetty, said B Jesuraja, Ramanathapuram district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Fishermen Association. “We are sailing from here at 10am on Wednesday and we are given two days to get the boats back. We will be bringing 31 boats”, he said.
Ahead of Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena`s visit to India in February, the Island nation released all the 81 boats which had been detained by the Sri Lankan navy since June last year.
