RAMANATHAPURAM: About eight Sri Lankan Tamils, including 5 children, arrived at Arichal Munai in Dhanushkodi seeking refuge in India.
Following an enquiry, all the Sri Lankan Tamils were lodged at Mandabam refugee camp.
The group consists of two families hailing from Jaffna, police sources said after an enquiry by the Marine police teams.
Primary investigation revealed that owing to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka the families had come to India seeking refuge. After spending the last of their money to pay ferry operators, they said to have started Friday night and were dropped at Arichal Munai in the wee hours of Saturday.
Vijaya Kumar (50), a Sri Lankan Tamil. told the media, “It's been a year since the economic crisis started, still the inflation has not returned to normalcy. Inflation keeps fluctuating in the nation. One day it's low and the other day it's skyrocketing. An egg costs 60 Sri Lankan rupees and chicken costs over a thousand Sri Lankan rupees.”
Sri Lankan Tamils have not sent their children to school for more than ten days as reports about kids being abducted for organ trade are widely shared, he added.
Official sources said that with this the total number of Sri Lankan Tamils who arrived in India seeking refuge since March 2022 has risen to 265. On a humanitarian basis, the Tamil Nadu government is providing accommodation and special skill-based training and others for the Sri Lankan Tamils.