Civilians brave Mannar seas to reach Jaffna by boat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Thirteen Jaffna residents, stranded in Vavuniya due to the closure of the A9, took the perilous sea voyage in a hired boat from Thalai Mannar and reached the island of Delft on Thursday 14th night, civil sources in Jaffna said. The Delft police took the civilians into custody and transferred them to the Kayts police station on Friday, sources in Kayts said.

The group consisting of ten men, a woman, and two children was produced at the Jaffna Courts on Friday and is expected to be released by the court soon, legal sources said.

More than two thousand pilgrims from Jaffna peninsula to the annual Madu Church August festival and nearly one thousand five hundred Jaffna residents who had gone to Colombo and other parts of the island are stranded in Vavuniya waiting for the A9 to open, sources in Vavuniya said.