A Sri Lankan fishing vessel carrying 69 people docked on Saturday morning in Reunion, indicates the prefecture.

The prefectural services counted seven women and six children among the passengers, who were "taken care of by the State services for their health assessment and their placement in the waiting area".

“They will then be the subject of interviews with the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) to decide on their admission to stay,” added the prefecture in a press release.

Spotted off the coast of the island several days ago, the boat was escorted to the port of Pointe des Galets (west of the island) by the Nautical Gendarmerie and docked around 4:40 a.m.

This arrival comes as 46 migrants, also Sri Lankans, were returned to their country on Friday, after disembarking on December 24.

“Reunion is not a good destination”

During a press conference on Friday afternoon, the local prefect, Jérôme Filippini, explained that these new migrants would also be sent back to Sri Lanka in a week, "if they are not destined to stay".

"Our message is: 'Reunion is not a good destination for these dangerous odysseys'", declared Jérôme Filippini.

Four ships from Sri Lanka, with a total of 122 passengers on board, docked on the island in 2022. Between March 2018 and April 2019, 275 people from Sri Lanka had arrived in Reunion.

Of the 397 migrants, who all applied for asylum, 121 were authorized to remain on French territory.



Nearly 4,000 km of ocean separate Reunion from Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million inhabitants undermined by a deep economic crisis.

“We are always trying to find out how the smuggler networks work.

The question remains whether there are representatives of these sectors in Reunion”, underlined the prefect.

“The Sri Lankan authorities are dismantling departures organized by smugglers.

But there will surely be other arrivals in the days and months to come,” concluded the State representative.

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