Elderly woman dies in the turmoil in military transport arrangement from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 15:18 GMT]
As all land routes from the Jaffna to the mainland being closed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), an elderly woman among the huge crowd of Jaffna residents vying for seats in 'Shakthi', the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) ship transporting civilians along with military personnel from Kankesanturai to Trincomalee died Tuesday due to rough handling by the SLA troopers at the Jaffna Sinhala Maha Vidyala where residents had to assemble for being selected for the sea journey by the SLA. Large numbers of Muslims too were among the many who are desperate to leave the peninsula where living has become dangerous because of the continuing extra-judicial killings, abductions and a severe shortage of food.

Thinenthiram Yogeswary, 57, standing in the long queue in the broiling sun, after being pushed on the chest by the SLA troopers, fell down and died on the spot due to heart attack, said an eye witness. The remains of the dead woman lies at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital morgue.

Chosen passengers were transported from the Jaffna Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya in vehicles to the Kankesanthurai port from where the SLN ship would take them to Trincomalee.

More than one hundred Muslim families among the many who had resettled in the peninsula in the recent past formed the major part of the 600 passengers who are to join the navy ship leaving the Jaffna peninsula.

The number of military personnel leaving the peninsula in the ship determined the size of civilian passengers allowed to travel in the naval vessel.