The Kumudini or Kumuthini boat massacre (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

:குமுதினி படகுப் படுகொலைகள்) happened on 15 May 1985 when at least 23 minority

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern P ...

men, women and children on a ferry boat named Kumudini sailing from the island of Delft to the island of Nainathivu were killed by Sri Lankan Navy personnel. According to eyewitness accounts six men believed to be from the Sri Lanka navy, dressed in T-shirts and blue longs and some in shorts, boarded the ferry boat. One by one the passengers were called to the aft section of the boat and told to shout their name, age, address and the destination of their journey. Then they were hacked to death.SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY Chapter 32: Limbo between war and peace
By K.T.Rajasingham The incident was sparked by the Anuradhapura massacre, where 146 Sinhalese civilians were gunned down by the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

, in revenge for the

1985 Valvettiturai massacre The 1985 Valvettiturai massacre happened on May 12, 1985 after 2 landmine attacks killed 10 soldiers and an officer in Valvettiturai. 70 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians from the town of Valvettithurai (abbreviated as VVT), Sri Lanka were roun ...

. In the ensuing weeks dozens more Tamil civilians were also killed.

The incident

Eyewitness accounts were documented by

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

. The government owned ferry boat known as a launch in the local Sri Lankan Tamil dialect named Kumudini (also Kumuthini) plying between number of islets in the Northern province was boarded with passengers at about 7.45 a.m. on May 15, 1985. After it had moved from the island of Delft towards the island of Nainativu, it was ordered stopped by some men who came in a fiber glass boat. About six men boarded Kumudini while about two remained in the fiber glass boat which they tied on to Kumudini. The men who boarded Kumudini had rifles and all of them were dressed variously in blue pants or shorts and T-shirts as worn by the Sri Lankan navy personnel. All the passengers and crew were ordered to enter the forepart of the boat and ordered below deck. All the passengers were also made to shout out their names, status, locality and where bound to and then they were ordered to come out one at a time. One man pointing out a gun shouted out such an orders in broken

. The eyewitness or the others in the fore section did not know what was happening to each person who was led away in this manner owing to the noise created by the forced shouting of passengers. When the eyewitness approached the upper deck, he saw blood all over and the cut pieces of human bodies. At this juncture the eyewitness shouted and refused to move. About 45 minutes after the attack on the eyewitness the fiberglass boat left the ferry boat. Villagers in 2007 reported to local Human Rights groups such as

UTHR *''For the figure in Norse mythology, see Urðr'' The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) or UTHR(J) was formed in 1988 at the University of Jaffna, Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, as part of the national organization University Teachers for Huma ...

that special knives used by local

toddy tapper Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in vari ...

s to tap toddy was collected and used by the perpetrators to kill the passengers.

Casualties

Although various estimates put the death toll anywhere from 36 to 48,

has names of only 23 persons killed in this incident.

Reactions

Amnesty International

identified and recorded the eyewitness accounts of the survivors and wrote a detailed report to the government asking it to take appropriate action against the perpetrators.

Sri Lankan government

When it was alleged that navy personnel from the Nainathievu island naval base were responsible for the killings,

Lalith Athulathmudali Lalith William Samarasekera Athulathmudali, PC (; 26 November 1936 – 23 April 1993), known as Lalith Athulathmudali, was a Sri Lankan statesman. He was a prominent member of the United National Party, who served as Minister of Trade and Sh ...

, the then Minister for National Security, reportedly stated,

LTTE

The rebel group

’s peace secretariat released a statement on November 22, 2006 that alleges that of the 72 people on board the ferry, about 36 were killed and the rest survived. It also documents the statements of more survivors.Kumuthini Boat massacre
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References

External links

Kumuthini boat massacre remembranceKumudini boat massacre pictures
{{coord missing, Sri Lanka 1985 crimes in Sri Lanka Attacks on civilians attributed to the Sri Lanka Navy Axe murder Massacres in Sri Lanka Maritime incidents in 1985 Massacres in 1985 Mass murder of Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan government forces attacks in Eelam War I Neduntheevu Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 1985