'Jaya Gold' resumes humanitarian mission

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2001, 23:01 GMT]
The vessel 'Jaya Gold' chartered by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has recommenced its weekly humanitarian voyages, transporting patients from Jaffna peninsula for specialized medical treatment in Colombo hospitals, sources said.

Having obtained agreement of the Sri Lankan Government and security guarantees from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the vessel 'Jaya Gold' sailed Tuesday evening from Trincomalee to Kankesanthurai taking 14 patients, who received specialized medical treatment in Colombo and ten representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), ICRC sources said.

Earlier the vessel 'Jaya Gold' sailed weekly between Point Pedro in the Jaffna peninsula and Trincomalee. In November last year the ICRC suspended this service due to the inclement weather which made loading and unloading cargo and patients difficult at Point Pedro.

Now the ICRC has obtained an agreement from the government and the LTTE to conduct this humanitarian voyage up to Kankesanthurai from Trincomalee, by-passing Point Pedro, the sources added.

A consignment of medicines urgently needed for the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and about 150 mailbags were also dispatched to the peninsula by the 'Jaya Gold' this evening, according to the sources.

'Jaya Gold' was also taking several parcels of answer scripts of students who sat for the recently held GCE Ordinary Level examinations this year elsewhere in the island, for correction at a marking center in the Jaffna district.

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