Amid economic crisis in the island nation, 6 Sri Lankan nationals illegally enter India via boat
Categories: FOREIGN OR INDIAN NEWS
The ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the worst-ever in the history of the island nation, is putting its citizens through extreme hardships. Now, a group of Lankan nationals have fled the island nation, which is nearing bankruptcy, and have reached Indian shores illegally. Six Sri Lankan nationals took the extremely risky step of undertaking a roughly 50km-long, illegal boat ride from Pesalai, Mannar in the northwest of Sri Lanka to Rameswaram in India's Tamil Nadu. According to the Indian Coast Guard, they had received information about the illegal migration of six Lankan nationals to India. They had embarked on a fishing boat in the late night hours of Monday (10:30pm) and landed on the fourth island, Rameswaram, in the wee hours of Tuesday, around 1:30am. They had taken the illegal, risky boat ride across the Palk Strait, in order to escape the excessive rise in prices of essential commodities in their country.The Coast Guard brought all six people to the Mandapam Hoverport safely and conducted a joint interrogation on arrival, following which they were handed over to the Coastal Security Group, Mandapam, for further legal action. Recently, the Indian government agreed to provide a $1 billion credit line to buy food and medicine on top of a $500 million facility granted earlier. Sri Lankan authorities announced last week that the country would seek an IMF bailout.It is also reported that Sri Lanka has sought a new loan as well as buyer’s credit from China for USD2.5 billion. This sum is in addition to the $ 2.8 billion that China offered to Sri Lanka, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.