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A speedboat flying the LTTE flag near the Katchatheevu sea, ferrying a group of youth, indicating that the LTTE supporters have returned to the northern seas.
The flag in the video is not the LTTE flag but the flag with the election symbol of Naam Tamilar Katchi, a Tamil nationalist party from Tamil Nadu, India. The boat was ferrying pilgrims from India to the 2026 Katchatheevu festival.
A TikTok video showing a speed boat carrying several young men, and flying a red flag, is going viral on the social media platform. The Sinhala caption with the video reads, “කච්චතිව් මුහුදේ.. ආයෙත්…. එයාලගේ රැගිල්ල,” which translates to “In the sea of Katchatheevu… again… their fury.”
The caption indirectly suggests that the flag is the LTTE flag and it is evidence of the return of LTTE supporters to the northern seas. A quick look at the comments section of the video also shows that many viewers believed the flag to be an LTTE flag.
The same video has also been posted on Facebook and TikTok, and can be seen here and here.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remain a banned organization under Clause 27 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of 1978 in Sri Lanka, and public displays of its symbols, including flags, uniforms, emblems, portraits, and photographs, are illegal in the Sri Lankan territory. Therefore, we decided to verify the authenticity of this video.
To verify the claim, we first conducted a keyword search with the words “Katchatheevu” and “LTTE Flag” in English, Tamil and Sinhala, but found no credible news reports related to this claim.
A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video led us to a longer version on YouTube posted by “VITHU DOT” on February 27, 2026, with the caption in Tamil, “Seaman in Katchatheevu? Boats flying with flags?”
The video also shows a zoomed in version of the flag, which clearly shows the symbol of a farmer, the election symbol of Naam Tamilar Katchi, along with an image of their party Chief Coordinator, Senthamizhan Seeman. Naam Tamilar Katchi is a Tamil nationalist political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry.
A comparison of the flag seen in the video and the election symbol of the NTK party can be seen below.
Further analysis led us to a news report published by “Oruvan News” on February 27, 2026, with the heading, “Boat in Katchatheevu with Seeman’s flag,” which also confirms that the flag carried on the boats was not an LTTE flag.
We also found several YouTube videos related to the event showing different boats arriving from India carrying the same flag during the annual Katchatheevu festival. These videos confirm that supporters of Naam Tamilar Katchi had travelled to the island for the religious festival. The videos can be seen here, here, and here.
Katchatheevu Island hosts an annual religious festival that attracts devotees from both Sri Lanka and India. Under the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement, Indian pilgrims are allowed to visit the island to attend the festival without requiring an Indian passport or a Sri Lankan visa.
The 2026 Katchatheevu Feast took place on February 27 and 28. During this period, many boats from Tamil Nadu travelled to the island carrying devotees and supporters of different groups.
The speedboat seen in the viral video was one such vessel that was ferrying participants from India to the festival.
The viral video claiming to show a speedboat carrying an LTTE flag in the Katchatheevu sea is misleading. The flag seen in the footage belongs to the Naam Tamilar Katchi, a political party from Tamil Nadu, and the boat was ferrying participants to the annual Katchatheevu festival held on February 27-28, 2026.
FAQs
Q1. Does the video show the boat with an LTTE flag?
No. The boat in the video was flying the flag of the Naam Tamilar Katchi political party in Tamil Nadu.
Q2. Why were the boats near Katchatheevu Island?
They were travelling to attend the annual Katchatheevu religious festival held on February 27–28, 2026.
Q3. Do Indian pilgrims need a passport or visa to attend the Katchatheevu festival?
No. Under the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement, Indian devotees can visit the island for the festival without a passport or visa.
Our Sources
Video uploaded by the VITHU DOT YouTube channel on February 27, 2026.
News report published by Oruvan News on February 27, 2026.
Video uploaded by the Anpu Tamil YouTube channel on February 28, 2026.
Video uploaded by the Tamil Focus News YouTube channel on February 28, 2026.
Video uploaded by the Arasiyal News YouTube channel on March 6, 2026.
Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2470/19, published on January 6, 2026.
News report published by The Hindu on NTK’s election logo on May 11, 2025.
Naam Tamilar Katchi official website and Instagram post uploaded on May 10, 2025.
Indo-Sri Lankan Agreement published by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations.
News report published on the Sri Lanka Navy official website on March 3, 2026.
Misleading
