Lankan refugee influx continues, touches 20,000

Rameswaram, (Tamil Nadu), Feb 19: The number of refugees from Lanka in the wake of rising hostilities between the military and the LTTE there, had touched the 20,000 mark with the arrival of 38 more refugees here this morning.

The total number of refugees, who had come to Tamil Nadu since January last year, touched the 20,000 mark, official sources said.

Police sources said the 38 refugees include 18 men, ten women and ten children from 16 families of Talaimannar, Kozhuthumbu and Kondeeswarar Koil areas near Kilinochchi and Vavuniya.

A boat from Sri Lanka dropped them near the third island.

Fishermen, who spotted the refugees, informed the NGOs in the temple town, who later brought them to Dhanushkodi in a country boat.

After verifying their identities to ensure that no LTTE activist entered the state under the guise of refugees, they were sent to the Mandapam Refugee Camp.

The refugees alleged that they feared constant harassment both from the LTTE and the military.

They said people in those areas were starving and there was no power supply either, forcing people to migrate to Tamil Nadu.

UNI