Faced with the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the first exiles arrive in India
A supporter of Sri Lanka's main opposition shows a loaf of bread to highlight rising food prices during a protest outside the president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, March 15, 2022. AP - Eranga Jayawardena
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Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis in decades: after a month of struggling to eat, Sri Lankans have decided to flee.
The first refugees arrived on the Indian coast on Tuesday.
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From our correspondent in the region,
Sébastien Farcis
A young couple with their 4 month old baby.
A woman with her children.
In all, 16 Sri Lankans from the north of the island landed in India illegally on Tuesday morning, on two different boats.
A crossing of only a few tens of kilometers between the two countries, but a survival operation for them.
Sri Lankan economic crisis: Six refugees arrive in Tamil Nadu's Rameswaram
Read: https://t.co/TOj6fXk5Am pic.twitter.com/lcvxgXty1r
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) March 22, 2022
These modest Sri Lankans, generally unemployed, claim that the price of milk and bread has tripled, that gas canisters are hard to find, and that it has thus become difficult to feed their children.
Their flight could constitute the beginning of a large economic exodus: Indian Tamil associations estimate that thousands of other Sri Lankan Tamils would also be ready to flee to escape inflation and famine.
It reminds everyone of the tragic flight of tens of thousands of Tamils to India from 1989 – they were fleeing the bloody civil war started by the Tamil Tiger rebellion.
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To read also: Sri Lanka: soldiers deployed in service stations in the face of fuel shortages
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Sri Lanka
India
International Migrations
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