Another group of Sri Lankans from among those rescued off a Vietnamese-flagged fishing vessel that was found to be in distress in the Vietnam Seas on 07th November 2022, have been deported to Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lanka Navy stated that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Colombo stationed at the Sri Lanka Navy Headquarters promptly coordinated the rescue of the 303 Sri Lankans who were temporarily settled in Vietnam upon rescue.
Among the rescued Sri Lankans, 151 were deported from Vietnam and they arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake on 28th December 2022.
The Sri Lanka Navy said another 23 Sri Lankans from the rescued group arrived at the Katunayake airport Wednesday, 19th April.
On 7th November 2022, the Navy Headquarters received the distress signal about the ill-fated Vietnamese-flagged fishing vessel (Lady R3), with 303 Sri Lankan nationals aboard. Responding promptly to the development, MRCC Colombo informed MRCC Singapore, MRCC Vietnam and MRCC Philippine of the rescue of people in distress at sea, within the control of those MRCCs.
Accordingly, MRCC Singapore and Vietnam in a coordinated Search and Rescue operation managed to rescue the group of Sri Lankans by deploying MV ‘HELIOS LEADER’. Upon being rescued they were taken away to Vietnam by a SAR vessel on 09th November and temporarily settled there.
Investigations had revealed that the group of Sri Lankans have flown to Myanmar from Sri Lanka legally and were on an illegal migration attempt from there, with the help of international human smugglers.
The Navy stated that among the group deported, last week were 15 males and 06 females who are from 19 to 50 years of age and 02 individuals below 18 years. They have been identified as residents of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa.
Relevant authorities including the Department of Immigration and Emigration will carry out the legal proceedings into the incident. (NewsWire)