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Ship to bring stranded people

No food, no cash, no fuel for thousands of Jaffna civilians

By Chris Kamalendran

At least 2000 people including foreigners have registered with the Government Agent of Jaffna to leave the peninsula by ship after air and road transport to the area has come to a standstill due to heavy fighting in the area.

Government Agent K. Ganesh said he was awaiting a vessel from Colombo to send the those people back with the assistance of the ICRC.

He said the vessel, MV Ruhuna, which was to leave Colombo today or tomorrow, with a load of food for Jaffna, would hopefully return with the stranded people.

Mr. Ganesh said that among the 2000 stranded were foreigners, locals who had gone to the north on holiday and some peninsula residents who wanted to leave the area.

The peninsula was also battered by a severe shortage of essential food, cash, fuel and electricity.

On Friday banks restricted the withdrawals to Rs. 1,000 – a drastic slash from the Rs. 10,000 allowed on Wednesday.

Last afternoon people were seen scrambling outside Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to withdraw cash but this also has been restricted due to the shortage of cash. Bank officials said most of their cash had been sent to the Palaly camp for safety and they were unable to bring the cash to the banks due to the heavy fighting. They said customers had also deposited little or no money in banks since last Monday.

Meanwhile inquiries have been made both, at the Colombo and Jaffna private airline offices seeking clarification about resumption of flights.

Shakthi Wickram, Chief Executive Officer of Aerolanka, one of the two aviation companies operating commercial flights to Jaffna, said they had reserved tickets until the end of the month but had not been given permission by the Civil Aviation Authority to resume flights.

Meanwhile nearly 500 people, including contract workers from the south, are reported to be trapped in the LTTE-controlled Wanni area as the Omanthai checkpoint has been closed due to the clashes since August 11.

An ICRC official said these people were safe and would be sent out as soon as permission was received.
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