Another 19 Sri Lankan Tamils travel by boat to India

Officials say 19 more Sri Lankan Tamils have fled using boats and arrived near here on Sunday, including 6 women and 5 children.

Upon receiving information that a group of Sri Lankan Tamils arrived in the Arisalmunai area off Dhanushkodi, about 19 km from here, police personnel including marine sleuths found them and took them to the Mandapam camp.

Several Tamils, including eight men, told police they travelled by boat from Sri Lanka and were dropped off in Dhanushkodi. Because of the current economic crisis and political instability in their country, they said they could not afford to live there.

Since the crisis in the island nation began, 10 Tamils left their homes and crossed into Tamil Nadu, where 29 people have arrived to date. Sri Lanka is undergoing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948.

Protesters have been calling for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for mismanaging the country's economy for weeks and have been protesting long power cuts and shortages of food, fuel, and other basic goods.