Fleeing Economic Crisis, Family Of Four Sail To Rameswaram From Sri Lanka

Meanwhile, 15 refugees who tried to flee the island nation on Friday were taken into custody by Sri Lankan Navy near Mannar.

Sri Lankan refugees in India (File photo/ABP Nadu)

Chennai: A family of four persons including two children fled Sri Lanka amid the worst economic crisis in the island nation and landed at Dhanushkodi of Rameshwaram on Friday morning. The arrested persons have been shifted to Mandapam camp.

According to a report on The Indian Express, the family sailed to Rameswaram on a fiber boat from Jaffna coast in north of Sri Lanka.

However, the fishermen in the locality who saw the family members immediately alerted the Indian officials. The state intelligence and central agencies soon secured the persons and started an inquiry to learn about the reason for them fleeing their home country. 

Meanwhile, 15 refugees who tried to flee the island nation on Friday were taken into custody by Sri Lankan Navy near Mannar.

Last month, 16 Sri Lankan refugees reached Rameswaram in two separate batches due to the economic crisis. 

On Thursday, TN CM Stalin also spoke to Union External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and informed him that the state was ready to ship commodities including rice and live-saving drugs to Sri Lanka. Seeking permission for distribution through Indian High Commission, Stalin expressed concern over the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Sri Lanka is experiencing worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. India has also announced a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as financial assistance to deal with the economic crisis. India also released another $500 billion credit in February.