SLN rescues refugees from sandbank in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 August 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Thursday remanded one person and released six other Tamil refugees when they were produced in court by Mannar Police on a report that they had been picked up by the Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday afternoon 12:30 p.m. from a sandbank in Mannar Sea, legal sources said.

These seven persons left Rameswaram in South Indian on 17th August on a vessel owned by an Indian citizen. Indian boatman left them on a sandbank Wednesday early morning around 2:30 a.m. saying that they had reached Mannar shore. The returnees later realized that they had been left in the midsea. A SLN craft patrolling the sea brought them to the shore and handed them to the Mannar Police, legal sources said.

Mannar Magistrate ordered remand till August 30 for one of the seven returnees Mr.Armugampillai Suthaharan, 27, of Manipay as he failed to produce any document to prove that he had been staying in a refugee camp, legal sources said.