Refugee homes gutted by fire in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 16:05 GMT]
Eleven temporary shelters with cadjan roof tops, out of more than one hundred such huts in the open refugee camp (ORC) located in the premises of the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation in Pesalai in Mannar district, were gutted by fire Tuesday afternoon around 2.30 p.m. The families have lost all their belongings and have been given shelter in the Vettrimatha Church, which is now housing several families driven out of the One Hundred Housing Scheme following the claymore mine attack on Sri Lanka Navy personnel, sources said.

The Mannar Divisional Secretariat manages the ORC camp.

The reason for the fire is not yet disclosed. Some sources allege it's an act of sabotage, sources said.

876 members of 216 families displaced from the districts of Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar are living in the ORC since 1990.

Majority of these refugees are from Killinochchi.

Displaced families from One Hundred Housing Scheme joined them last week.

Parish Priest Rev.Fr.Vincent Patrick and Assistant Parish Priest Rev.Fr.S.Sathyaraj visited the site soon after the fire. Church authorities and few welfare organizations have organized immediate relief and other helps to these victims, sources said.