Naval help for injured Tamil civilians

The second batch of 403 sick and wounded Tamil civilians were evacuated under Naval escort on Thursday.

The Navy assisted in the evacuation of the first batch consisting of 356 persons on Tuesday. The evacuation of sick and wounded Tamil civilians trapped in LTTE clutches in the un-cleared areas in Mullaitivu is being carried out on board MV Green Ocean under the ICRC flag.

The Navy has provided safe passage to patients for urgent medical treatment in Trincomalee Government hospital.

The evacuees, upon disembarkation, were provided with emergency medical treatment by Naval doctors and were rushed to the hospitals by the Naval personnel. Arrangements have been made to treat the sick and the injured evacuees once they reach cleared areas.

Hospitals have been equipped with adequate stocks of essential drugs and specialist medical personnel are assigned to treat the sick and the wounded as they are transferred to hospitals. The second batch consisted of 140 males, 154 females and 109 children. The Navy has assisted 759 patients upto date.

Naval personnel and vessels along with stand-by rescue and medical teams are on special deployment in the North-eastern seas to assist Tamil civilians fleeing the LTTE.