RAMESWARAM: Seeking refuge in India, two more Sri Lankan Tamil families consisting of eight members reached Dhanushkodi on Sunday. The families were stranded on the third sandbar at Arichalmunai and were rescued by the coast guard.
Sources said a hovercraft from Mandapam was deployed to rescue the eight persons, including two women, three children and a newborn. The eight were identified as Chandra Kumar alias Mohan (36), his wife Delsithuram (36), and their children Venuson ( 7) and Praveenson (2 months), from Uruttukulam in Sri Lanka’s Kizhinochi. The second family was identified as Kirubakaran (30), his wife Nisanthi (30), and their children Deepika (9) and Rakshika (4), from Kompaiye North in Jaffna region.
According to the refugees, they had to shell out all their savings for the ferry trip to India on Saturday. Stranded for several hours in the sandbar without food and water late in the evening, they were handed over to the Rameswaram CSG and later shifted to the Mandapam refugee camp after questioning. The total number of Sri Lankan Tamils who arrived in the State in March has now risen to 141.