Maldives frees 24 Thoothukudi fishermen held for nearly a month; Tamil Nadu pays for flight home

Twenty-four fishermen from Tharuvaikulam in Thoothukudi district, who had been held by the Maldives Coast Guard since October 13, were released and returned to India on Sunday, November 8, 2026.

The Tamil Nadu government said the men, who had gone deep-sea fishing in three mechanised boats, were freed after the state worked through the Union Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian High Commission in the Maldives. Officials of the Thoothukudi fisheries department met the group at Thiruvananthapuram airport and arranged transport to their home villages. The state government paid for their air tickets.

The statement credits the release to the directions of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and the “continuous efforts” of the Minister for Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare. It does not say what the Maldivian authorities decided on the boats, which were taken to a Maldivian port along with the crews, their nets and their catch, or whether any penalty was paid.

How the men were caught

The boats left the Tharuvaikulam coast on October 1 for tuna, fishing with gillnets. On October 13 the Maldives Coast Guard stopped them. The Coast Guard alleged that the crews had crossed the maritime boundary and were fishing illegally. Families gave another account: strong winds and sea currents, they said, had pushed the boats into Maldivian waters.

Reports in October put the number held at 25, the crews split across the three boats and drawn from Tharuvaikulam, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Vembar and Puducherry. The return reports speak of 24. None of the sources read explains the difference, and the Tamil Nadu statement does not name the men.

The fine and the appeals

The Maldives Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture was reported on October 28 to have imposed a total of Rs 4.80 crore on the three boats, about Rs 1.60 crore each. The charges listed were entering Maldivian territorial waters without permission, fishing without a valid licence and using prohibited nets. That figure rests on a single report; neither government has published it, and nothing found says whether it was paid, reduced or waived.

Relatives had pleaded for help from the first day. Amalorpavam, the mother of one of the detained men, appealed to the Centre on October 13 for their release and the return of the boats. “My son and other fishermen left Tharuvaikulam on October 1 in fishing boats for deep-sea fishing,” she said, and asked the Prime Minister to step in. Sudarshan, the brother of another crew member, said the detention had brought heavy losses and hardship to the families. “We have been engaged in fishing since our childhood and struggle hard to sustain our families through this occupation,” he said.

On Thursday, October 15, Chief Minister Vijay wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, asking him to “take up the matter with the Government of Maldives through appropriate diplomatic channels” and secure the release and safe return of the fishermen and their boats. He said the minister’s personal intervention would give “much-needed reassurance to the affected families and the fishing community.”

Why it matters to coastal Tamil Nadu

The three gillnet boats carried crews of eight or nine men each. Counting the days at sea before the Coast Guard stopped them, the men were away from home for more than five weeks.

The case is the second this month in which Tamil Nadu has secured the return of fishermen held abroad. On November 6, eight Rameswaram fishermen freed by Sri Lanka landed in Chennai after a month in a Jaffna prison. The state’s fishing communities are also in mourning after Cyclone Murasu: nine Kasimedu fishermen died after their boat lost its engine near Ramayapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on November 3, a case the opposition has taken up with the government, as in our report on the bodies and Vijay’s Rs 7 lakh relief.

What next

Still unanswered are the fate of the three boats and any penalty, and whether the Ministry of External Affairs will comment. The Tamil Nadu government has not said whether it will press the Maldives for the return of the boats or seek compensation for their owners.