What Happened
For the people of Delft Island, located off the coast of Jaffna, the boat "Kumuthini" provided an indispensable service. On 15.05.1985, about 72 people were traveling in the boat from Delft Island to Jaffna.
Sri Lankan Navy soldiers from the camp in Nainativu boarded the Kumuthini and massacred the people in the boat with knives. Many died during the violence. Some died as the boat sped to the Jaffna coast. 36 people were killed and 36 survived, but the survivors were all tortured.
Survivor Saro Rasaratnam: "We were traveling for about 30 minutes when we stopped at mid-sea. Navy men climbed up into the boat. They took all of us to the front while they sat at the entrance. They asked people to move towards the back. One Navy man pushed me, and another one stabbed me in my neck, chest and head. I was pulled and thrown on top of others who were lying on the ground."
Annaladchmi Sivalingam, whose baby was killed: "I sat with my baby and showed my ID card. He took me upstairs and stabbed me. I only found out that my baby was killed six weeks after the incident."
Another survivor: "They stabbed a 6 month old baby and ripped open her chest. Girls were also raped along with other acts of violation. 72 people were in the boat, 36 were killed."
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan Navy
Sources & References
- NESOHR - Lest We Forget Volume I