Coast Guard to take over from Sri Lanka 52 Indian fishermen

CHENNAI: Indian Coast Guard ( ICG) will take over from Sri Lanka 52 Indian fishermen and hand over a similar number of Lankan fishermen released by India to authorities of that country tomorrow.

ICG ship Vishwast will undertake 'concurrent repatriation' of the said number of fishermen, released by either countries that morning, a Coast Guard release here said today.

The 52 Lankan fishermen released by the Tamil Nadu government have been taken over from local authorities and handed over to Lankan officials at the Indo-Lankan International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) with ICG scheduled to take over 52 Indians from them, it said.

The Indian fishermen will be handed over to local authorities at Karaikkal (Puducherry), it added.

"The concurrent repatriation is being undertaken on the sidelines of the joint talks between fishermen of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to be held at Chennai on January 20," it said.