Elderly Lankan Tamil migrant couple arrives in TN seeking refuge

RAMESWARAM: An elderly Tamil migrant couple from Sri Lanka, who fled the economic crisis-hit Island nation, arrived in Tamil Nadu on Monday seeking asylum.

Official sources said the locals found the couple Periyannan (82) and Parameswari (70), hailing from Trincomalee lying on the sand dune off Kothandaramar coast in an unconscious stage. On being alerted, a police team rescued them.

The couple was given first aid and brought in a boat to Rameswaram, where they were admitted at the government hospital. Investigations revealed that the couple hired a fiberglass boat from Talaimannar to reach Rameswaram clandestinely.

After treatment, the couple would be accommodated at the Mandapam refugees’ camp here. With the arrival of two more Sri Lankans, the total number of refugees who had reached Tamil Nadu from the Island nation had risen to 92 in the last few weeks, the sources added.

The elderly Tamil couple of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, were taken on ICG Hovercraft on being found unconscious near Dhanushkodi.