FIRST BATCH OF MIGRANT SRILANKANS TO BE FLOWN HOME IS DISPATCHED FROM BEIRUT TO DAMASCUS SYRIA TO BE PICKED UP BY SRI LANKA AIRLINES
(By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles)
The first batch of 112 migrant Sri Lankan workers was dispatched in three buses through Syria to be flown home to Colombo, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Beirut said.
The buses were supplied through the courtesy of the International Organization of Migrants (IOM) whose help the Sri Lanka government sought in bringing home part of the 80,000 Sri Lankans working legally and illegally in the country ravaged by incessant bombing by the Israeli fighter jets. Already, at least two Sri Lankans have been killed by the Israeli bombing, according to sources in Lebanon.
The bus was sent through a route through Tripoli to reach Damascus, Syria to be flown home by a passenger jet of the Sri Lankan Airlines, the same sources revealed.
Another 200 will be dispatched through a different route the next day morning and the embassy said the route cannot be revealed due to security reasons. By the end of the day 310 are expected to be dispatched to Syria , the same sources said.
India will make available some of her ships that will be used to evacuate her citizens from Lebanon to bring home stranded Sri Lankan citizens too.
It is not known exactly when the ships will be taking the Sri Lankan nationals.
India’s state minister for external affairs, E. Ahamed said that permission had been sought from Lebanon to berth the ships in Beirut
Mr. Ahamed also said that India was in touch with the Governments of Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey to coordinate efforts to bring out the stranded people.
