Fifteen fishermen from Karnataka, who had illegally entered Iran five months ago were released by Iranian authorities yesterday. All the fishermen, who belong to Uttara Kannada district are enroute to UAE on their boats.

They were detained on July 27 by the Iranian government after they had illegally entered Kish island on a boat owned by a UAE businessman.

The district administration of Uttara Kannada wrote to foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to intervene in the matter which led to their release.