RAMANATHAPURAM: Four Sri Lankan Tamils, including two children, arrived at Dhanushkodi on Monday morning seeking refuge in India. With this, the total number of SL Tamils who came to India since March 2022 has risen to 269.
Police sources said upon information about a family of four arriving at Arichalmunai near Dhanushkodi on Monday morning hours, the Marine police rushed to the spot and took them under custody. "Following an inquiry, they were identified as Prateep (36) along with his wife Mery (36) and their two children, Krithika (7) and Krishmika (4), hailing from the Vavuniya region in Sri Lanka.
They decided to flee the country as they had been struggling to eke out a living amid the surging inflation rates. They told the police that the crisis on the island nation was particularly hard on them as they were daily wage labourers, who could not make a living amid the situation there," the police said.
The police further said the family used the last amount of money they had on them to illegally ferry into India. The family boarded a boat from Thalaimannar on Sunday night and reached Dhaushkodi in the wee hours of Monday, the police said, adding that all four have been lodged at the Mandapam refugee camp after an inquiry.