Forty nine Indian fishermen who were detained by Iran in December last year have been freed and reached India on Thursday, a senior government official said.
"On December 1, 49 Indian fishermen who are employees of Al Shamshi Al Ajman, a UAE - based company, were detained while they were unknowingly fishing between the UAE and Iranian waters in the Kish island, " external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing here.
"These 49 fishermen have now been released by the Iranian authorities. They left Iran yesterday (Wednesday) for Chennai via Dubai and have arrived in India this morning, " he said.
Of the 49 fishermen, 44 are from Tamil Nadu and five are from Gujarat.