Deaths of elderly Vanni IDPs increase in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 13:44 GMT]
Death toll of elderly persons displaced from Vanni due to military operations and held in detention centres in Vavuniyaa is on the increase, sources in Vavuniyaa said. On Monday alone ten elderly persons died in detention centers located in Vavuniyaa and their bodies had been handed over to the Vavuniyaa general hospital, the sources added.

From April 1 till Monday April 3 about thirty elderly persons had died and were buried in the general cemetery in Poonthooddam.

All of them were around 70 years old.

Social welfare sources attribute the cause of these deaths to deteriorating health without proper medical attention and psychological reasons as they had been driven out of their native villages due to military operations.