Aceh fishermen stranded in India

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: Residents need the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help them establish contact with three local fishermen who have been stranded in India since they left a detention house penniless.

"We need my husband's address so that I can send money for him to come back home," the wife of one of the three fishermen told Antara here yesterday.

Relatives said the fishermen's employer provided the men with money to return but he was unaware of their whereabouts since they finished their 18-month jail sentence in May.

The three were from a group of 18 Aceh fishermen that was detained by Indian police after they were found stranded in Nikobar-Andaman in August, 1994. They were jailed for 18 months on charges of infringing on Indian territory.

They are M. Jakfar Oebit, 36, captain of KM Bintang Sejati, Simie, 37, of KM Gema Permata and S. Galingging, 36, of KM Victoria. The other 15 were deported last year. (pan)