Vessel leaves Trinco with Jaffna bound civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 09:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy charted "Jetliner" vessel Tuesday morning left Ashraff Jetty in Trincomalee harbour for Kankesanturai port in northern peninsula with about 948 Jaffna bound civilians who had been stranded in Vavuniya, gateway of A9 land route.

The civilians transported by buses from Vavuniya Monday evening to Trincomalee had boarded the vessel Monday night.

The vessel left around 8 a.m. from Trincomalee port with SLN escort.

The civilians were selected on priority basis from about 2000 people, who had came to Colombo and other parts in the south on official and other private businesses from Jaffna district, and were stranded in Vavuniya since August 11 following the closure of A-9 route to Jaffna due to the fresh fighting between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Liberatin Tigers of Tamil Eelam.