Security threat grounds passenger ship

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Lanka Muditha , a passenger ship hired by Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Essential Services, was unable to sail on its maiden voyage transporting refugees from Trincomalee to Jaffna's Kankesanthurai (KKS) port today, due to security reasons said Jaffna Kachcheri sources today.

This might be due to the confrontation between the Sea Tigers and the SLN in the early hours of the morning today in seas off Kokkilai south of Mullaithivu, said sources in Trincomalee.

The Commissioner General of Essential Services is running the Lanka Muditha mainly for transporting displaced persons from other parts of Sri Lanka to the Jaffna Peninsula.

Thousand and thirty six people awaiting transport to Jaffna who had been long held up in Mannar were brought to Trincomalee yesterday to board the Lanka Muditha.

The people were largely from the Pesalai transit camp in the Mannar island. They protested recently by going on a token fast over the inordinate delays on the part of Sri Lankan Government authorities, to send them back to Jaffna, said sources.