291 Lankans return from Lebanon

Rajmi MANATUNGA

COLOMBO: Another batch of 291 Sri Lankans stranded in Lebanon owing to the Israeli attacks returned to the country yesterday.

The Labour Ministry said that the expatriates arrived in Sri Lanka around 3 p.m. yesterday on a charter flight.

"They had to be brought to Syria to be airlifted because the airport facilities in Lebanon have been destroyed. The flight was funded by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)," a Ministry spokesman told the Daily News.

According to the Ministry, another group of 350 Sri Lankans transported from Beirut via Cyprus in Indian vessels will also arrive in the island today. They will be airlifted to Colombo from New Delhi.

With the expatriates who arrived yesterday, around 900 Sri Lankans have been repatriated to Sri Lanka from Lebanon and reunited with their families.

The Sri Lanka Embassy in Lebanon is processing the immigration papers of nearly 1,000 more Sri Lankans being housed in the Embassy and Caritas managed relief centres. Some are staying in their households in Beirut awaiting repatriation.

The Foreign Ministry, the Labour Ministry and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) are coordinating the repatriation through the Task Forces at the Ministry of Colombo, in Damascus and Latakia in Syria, and in Beirut.