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300 Sri Lankan expatriate workers die annually; most of them in West Asia
At least 300 Sri Lankan expatriate workers die each year and the majority of the deaths occur in West Asian countries, a senior official said yesterday.
Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya told the Sunday Times that some 69 per cent of the deaths were due to natural causes, road traffic accidents made up another 27 per cent and suicides six percent.
Cases of homicide were at the bottom of the list with only a few cases being reported, he said.
Mr. Randeniya said it was understandable that West Asia had the largest number of deaths as the single largest concentration of Lankan expatriate workers totalling some 1.5 million, a majority of whom were women, was found in that region.
Bureau statistics show that there were 289 deaths reported in 2011, 302 the following year and 303 in 2013, Mr. Randeniya said.
He also said recent reports in the Arab media that most of the Lankan deaths were of women were incorrect and that men made up 65 per cent of the deaths.
He further said in certain cases where the death occurred under suspicious circumstances the organs of deceased were removed. “This is standard procedure in any country since the organs are needed for a medical autopsy to determine the cause of death.”
He said in many such cases the relatives cry foul since they are unaware of the normal procedure, Mr. Randeniya added.
He said except in the case of Saudi Arabia the repatriation of a body is done within 14 days. In Saudi Arabia the procedure could take 30 to 45 days, and if the death had occurred under unexplained circumstances, it could take even longer.
At present the bodies of six dead Sri Lankan expatriate workers in Saudi Arabia are pending re-expatriation to the country.