As Lanka closes in on Tigers, boat with refugees lands in Tamil Nadu

As Sri Lankan troops advanced on the last redoubt of the Tamil Tigers and the exodus of people trapped in a coastal strip crossed 62,000, a boatload of starving Tamil refugees landed on the Tamil Nadu coast this morning. Refugees claimed that over 80 boats carrying civilians were headed for the Indian mainland but officials said intelligence inputs pointed to only four boats making the journey.

Nineteen refugees, including eight women and two children, reached Arcothurai near Point Calimere in Nagapattinam this morning after sailing for nearly 24 hours in a small fishing boat. Police officials said the refugees had no food or water. They were taken to the Mandapam camp in Rameshwaram where a large number of Lankan Tamil refugees are housed.

“Now that the battlefield has shifted to north-east Lanka, people in former LTTE-controlled areas like Mullaithivu and Puthukkudiyiruppu are trying to flee the war by escaping to the Indian mainland,” an official said. As a result, Nagapattinam

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