11 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees land in Andhra Pradesh

Kakinada, April 30 (PTI) Eleven Sri Lankan Tamil
refugees, including an infant, fleeing the battle zone in the
northern areas of the island nation, have landed on the shores
of this north coastal town of India's southern state of Andhra
Pradesh.

The refugees were rescued by fishermen of Uppada
village in the Bay of Bengal coast near here late Wednesday
night, East Godavari district Superintendent of Police Charu
Sinha told PTI.

The rescued people have told them that 10 others, who
had fled with them in boats, died en route due to starvation
during the course of the arduous journey. The bodies were
abandoned in the sea mid-way.

Sinha said the people fled Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka in
small boats on April 20 and lost their way in the Bay of
Bengal.

Mullaitivu, lying in the northern coast of Sri Lanka,
lies far away from the north coastal Andhra Pradesh, at least
600 to 700 km away. Usually refugees from the northern parts
of Sri Lanka land on the shores east coastal Tamil Nadu, and
they are quarantined in Mandapam camps near Rameswaram in
South Tamil Nadu.

The condition of the rescued people too was said to be
bad, she said. Those rescued included seven men, three women
and an infant.

Three of them were admitted to the government general
hospital in Kakinada for treatment. Police were trying to
elicit more information from the rescued people. PTI