Deaths 33 Location Mandaitivu, Sri Lanka | Perpetrators Sri Lankan Navy | |
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Date 10 June 10 1986 (+8 GMT) Target Sri Lankan Tamil Civilians | ||
Mandaithivu sea massacre was a civilian massacre of ethnic Tamils by members of the Sri Lankan Navy off the coast of Mandaitivu island of the Jaffna peninsula. 33 civilians, all of them fishermen, who had been fishing at sea were attacked, tortured and murdered by Sri Lankan Navy personnel.
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Massacre
Mandaitivu is an islet situated off the Jaffna peninsula and is connected to the city of Jaffna by means of a causeway. The islet is thus surrounded by the sea on three sides and on one side by land. Kurunagar, Pasaiyur and Mandaitivu are some of the villages situated on the island. Being coastal hamlets, the locals all of them ethnic Tamils depended on fishing for their livelihood.
On 10 June 1986, Sri Lankan Navy personnel clad in black clothes approached a group of fishermen who were in the sea. The fishermen raised their hands to show they were civilians. The Navy however began to attack the fishermen and destroying their boats and nets. All of the fishermen were tortured and brutally murdered. The eyes of some fishermen were dug out. Stomachs of some fishermen were cut open. In all 32 fishermen from Kurunagar and one from Mandaitivu village were killed by the Navy. The only fisherman Mr. Semon Mariyathas (41) who escaped death in the massacre is still alive. The fishermen who were massacred were aged between 13 and 62. According to the medical evidence led at the inquest, all the fishermen had died of multiple injuries to various parts of the anatomy due to machine gunfire.
Remembrance Day
10 June is observed as a remembrance day in the peninsula. A monument in remembrance of those dead was opened coinciding with the incident's 18th anniversary in 2004. A previous such memorial was destroyed by the Sri Lankan Army during a 'military operation' in 1996.