Three refugees swim Palk Straits to reach Dhanushkodi

RAMESWARAM, JUNE 15: In a desperate move to inform about the stranded refugees at the Fourth Sand Dune, three Sri Lankan Tamils swam almost the entire stretch of eight kms long Palk Straits from there and reached Dhanushkodi near here early today.

The refugees, Mahesh, Amulraja and Rajkumar, told the navalmen who found them swimming near Dhanushkodi that they had no other option to reach here as they were dropped by the boatmen at the Fourth Sand Dune, Coast Guard sources said.

"Crossing of Palk Straits is very difficult to achieve and one can imagine the desperate situation that forced the refugees to swim the Palk Straits," the sources said.

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The three said that a batch of 25 refugees were waiting in the Fourth Sand Dune for being rescued by the Indian officials. The refugees were starving for almost two days, they said.

Meanwhile, the revenue officials were making arrangements to bring the refugees to Rameswaram coast, the sources said.