MORE THAN 3000 SRILANKANS ARE STILL STRANDED IN SOUTHERN LEBANON AND THEY CANNOT BE HELPED UNLESS US FORCES ISRAEL TO STOP THE WAR
(By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles)
More than 3000 Sri Lankans are believed to be stranded in Sourthern Lebanon that is taking the main onslaught of Israeli bombing unable to reach their embassy in Beirut as the country’s roads and bridges have been devastated by the war.
Sri Lanka ambassador M. A. Farook in Beirut said only a handful of them were able to contact the embassy by phone and the embassy or organizations like Caritas the local Red Cross or the International Red Cross were not able to send vehicles to the heavily bombed areas to pick up the stranded Sri Lankans.
Embassy has advised those who phoned up to communicate with one another and be prepared to gather to one spot to be picked up as soon as any kind of transport is available.
The embassy was preparing the documents necessary for another 400 to 500 people to be dispatched in the next batches. They were people who could reach the embassy safely or Sri Lankans released by the Lebanese government from their jails.
In the southern port city of Tyre, where the first Sri Lankan death was announced and which which has received the brunt of Israel's offensive on the south, hospitals called on residents of nearby town and villages to pick up their dead from their morgues that were filling up, Lebanon news reports said.
The reports further said, Around 74 people killed during Israel's 10-day offensive were buried in a mass grave near a military base in the southern port city of Tyre. The Sri Lanka embassy said in the atmosphere of war the Sri Lankan maid who died there had to be buried.
Nothing was heard of the second Sri Lankan died at Nabatiyeh,also in Southern Lebanon whose death was announced in the Lebanese website Naharnet.com.
As the Lebanon nation was devastated by Israeli aerial bombing unrestricted by the world’s only superpower the United States the Beirut embassy has successfully dispatched 310 Sri Lankan refugees as the first batch to be sent home.
Lebanese reports said, thousands of Lebanese, in cars, trucks and minibuses, are still fleeing southern Lebanon, where Israel's massive bombardment has left a trail of destruction and raised fears of a shortage of food and medicines
Sri Lanka embassy said atleast some of the Sri Lankan domestic aids would have left Southern Lebanon with their employers.
Sri Lanka joined other nations like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Philippines whose embassies are sending their citizens through land routes still open through Syria and a sea route to the island of Cyprus to be flown home as soon as possible.
Sri Lanka ambassador in Beirut M. A. Farook said the six bus loads of all the Sri Lankan refugees have already passed the Syrian-Lebanon border and soon reach the Syrian capital Damascus where they will be picked up by the Sri Lankan Airlines.
"The most basic human rights of the population are at risk or are being violated, including their rights to life, health and food," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to travel to the region as early as next week to press for a political solution but Washington is refusing to back calls for a ceasefire until Hizbullah halts its rocket attacks . Some critics said that the United States was delaying some action since it wanted the Israel to do the utmost damage.
At least 330 people have been killed in Lebanon in the Israeli campaign and more than 600 have been wounded, according to Lebanese government figures.
The U.N. estimated that about a half-million people have been displaced in Lebanon, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and about 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz had warned that Israel would launch a full-scale ground invasion "without thinking twice" if necessary to crush Hizbullah.
