COLOMBO, Jan 4 (NNN-SLNEWS) – Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said, an estimated 68,000 Sri Lankans are awaiting repatriation, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Foreign Ministry said, it has been carrying out the task of repatriation for almost a year and to date 60,470 Sri Lankans, including pilgrims, students, officials of government or armed forces, migrant workers, short term visitors, seafarers and cases on compassionate grounds, have been repatriated from abroad by the ministry, through Sri Lankan missions overseas.
“Over 40,000 migrant workers, predominantly from the Middle East are the top segment of overseas workers who have benefitted, whereas another 20,000 have been brought from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Latin American regions,” the Foreign Ministry said.
“As the conditions abroad deteriorate and due to a large number of layoffs and other causes of unemployment, the number of prospective returnees keeps rising and currently an estimated 68,000 overseas Sri Lankans are waitlisted by the Ministry for repatriation.”
Foreign Secretary, Admiral Jayanath Colombage, said, the latest fortnightly schedule of flights, finalised to be operated between Jan 2 and Jan 9 will include 1,400 passengers from India, Australia, Kuwait, Qatar, Canada, Cyprus, and the UAE.
