Four more persons, including two children, from Sri Lanka reached Dhanushkodi in the early hours of Friday. The marine police brought them to the shore after the surveillance agencies spotted them near Arichalmunai.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that they were from Sri Lanka’s Mannar district. They have been identified as Nishanthan Fernando, 34; his wife Ranjitha, 29; daughter Jensitta, 10; and son Akash, 2.
Nishanthan told the police that he decided to go to India because of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and he lost his job and was left with very little money to run his family.
After contacting a “ friend”, Nishanthan had taken his family in a fibre boat to Indian waters. He did not say anything else, a police officer said.
When reporters asked him about the amount he had spent on the trip, he remained silent and then said a friend in Sri Lanka helped him. A marine police officer said the family would soon be sent to the refugee camp at Mandapam.
Last month, 16 Sri Lankans reached Dhanushkodi by fibre boats. Initially, they were arrested and sent to Puzhal Central Prison. However, the Tamil Nadu government decided to put them up in the refugee camp at Mandapam.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has also written to the Prime Minister and the External Affairs Minister about the arrival of Sri Lankan Tamils and has offered to send assistance.
