Four more Sri Lankans reach TN on illegal vessel

Four more persons from Sri Lanka landed in the Indian waters on an illegal vessel in the wee hours of Saturday, owing to the economic crisis in the island nation, the Hindu reported.

After surveillance teams from the Central and State agencies alerted the Tamil Nadu Marine Police, the four foreign nationals were taken for interrogation. 

According to police, Jayamalini, 50, wife of Somasundaram of Trincomalee district in Sri Lanka, said there were no jobs and survival had become difficult. Prices were too high, she said, adding that they decided to hire a vessel and reach Mandapam in Tamil Nadu. 

Along with her two sons– S. Pathurjan, 26, and S. Hamsikan, 22– and daughter S. Padushika, 19, she boarded a vessel and reached Tamil Nadu around 4 a.m.

A senior officer, who questioned them, said they had registered themselves as inmates at the Mandapam Refugee Camp in 2006 and had left for Sri Lanka in 2019. 

They were handed over to revenue authorities at the Mandapam Rehabilitation Centre, where already about 120 people, including women and children were staying. 

Last month, an aged woman from Sri Lanka passed away after she was admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai.

The Tamil Nadu government had been providing food and shelter to people who had arrived in the state from Sri Lanka.

Source: The Hindu

--Agencies