Seven Sri Lankans pay Rs 1 lakh each to ferry themselves illegally to Tamil Nadu amid economic crisis

Rameswaram: Seven people belonging to two families in Sri Lanka's Jaffna and Trincomalee districts reached Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu by illegal vessel in the early hours of Tuesday.

The people left economic crisis-hit Sri Lanka paying Rs 1 lakh each to the fishermen in Sri Lanka. A report by The Hindu said that they reached Indian waters at Arichalmunai around 3 am today.

The seven Sri Lankans were brought to the shores by an Indian Coast Guard patrol and were handed over to the Marine Police.

News agency PTI said that the two families, dropped at the shoals near Rameswaram island by boatmen, were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard's hovercraft and brought to Dhanushkodi and handed over to the police.

They have been identified as N Mary Augusta (44) of Jaffna and her teenaged sons N Nisharukhan and N Sevin, and G Mahesan (39), M Devi (38) of Trincomalee, besides two children Dinal and M Hamusan.

These seven Sri Lankans had decided to come to India in order to escape the ongoing crisis in the island nation.

Talking to the media, the Sri Lankans, who fled to India, said that they had been jobless for the last couple of months. Their meager savings helped them to purchase food till last week.

They further said that it became difficult for them to stay in Sri Lanka and they were almost starved as essentials were unavailable in their localities.

They said that with no job and no sight of when the economic crisis in Sri Lanka would get over, they decided to reach India.

Over 100 people from the neighbouring Sri Lanka have already taken refuge in Tamil Nadu, and the government in the Indian state has been providing them with food, shelter and clothing.

With inputs from agencies

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