Three local fishermen who boarded one of the two water taxis berthed near the US ship USS Nimitz to ferry sailors to the shore and back were arrested by the local police after an hour-long chase in the seas.
The three, identified as Kannan (33), Bhaskar (35) and Ramesh (32) of Kasimedu fishermen’s hamlet, boarded the Singaporean boat on Monday night much to the alarm of the crew of the boat as well as Nimitz, who alerted the local police.
When the marine police closed in on them, the fishermen plunged into the sea, got into their boat and tried to escape. However, the police eventually caught them.
The three, who were found to be drunk, told the police that they boarded the ferry boat as their fishing net had got entangled in it. 
An investigation is on as to how the fishermen had breached the security blanket around the US nuclear ship. Even fishing has been banned within a five-km radius of the US ship which is anchored about two miles from the port. The police have detained the fishermen for questioning.
With Nimitz set to sail out on July 5, the sailors on shore are making the most of their stay here. They have split into groups and one group visited the Indian Council for Child Welfare  and interacted with the children. Another cleaned the premises of the Home for Poor Boys run by the Government Madrasa-I Azam mosque.
Group leader James Hickman said, “We are glad to be in Chennai after several days out at the sea. The people are very friendly and the weather, contrary to what we had heard, is quite pleasant. We look forward to more community interactions.”
Saddam meets crew
The high point of the visit was the meeting between Steve, a crew member, and Saddam Hussain, a Class VII student in the school. Both shook hands and posed for photographs. Some took an autorickshaw and looked for good eateries where they could get chicken.On Tuesday, some crew members took up the job of cleaning the Marina beach.
“Do we need a nuclear ship to clean up the Marina,” asked an angry Communist during the demo against the ship’s visit on Monday.
 With some of the sailors due to visit a few tsunami-hit villages security in and around Mahabalipuram has been beefed up.