Repatriation process
Two flights that were expected to transport 275 Sri Lankans from Maldives and another 275 from Dubai were suspended at the time of going to press. They had been planned for June 4 and June 8, respectively.
But flights are on schedule to arrive from Australia on May 30 and from Singapore on June 2. Also planned are Philippines (June 10) and yet another from London for Sri Lankans in Canada and Europe (June 6). The latter has been marked as “Priority” by authorities.
Requests for repatriation are forwarded by the Ministry of Foreign Relations to the President’s Office where they are vetted by a team headed by Admiral (Retd) Jayanath Colombage, Additional Secretary to the President for Foreign Relations.
The first repatriation flight was from Wuhan on February 1 with 33 Sri Lankans on board. They were mostly university students and their families. Between March 19 and 22, six flights carried pilgrims who had been stranded in India back home. On 21 April, 106 Sri Lankans left Pakistan. They, too, were predominantly students.
Between April 32 and May 12, seven flights left India with 1,134 Sri Lankans on board. The majority were students. On April 24, a flight from Nepal brought 76 Sri Lankans home. They were students.
On April 27, a total of 73 students were repatriated from Bangladesh. Hundreds of workers, meanwhile, are still begging to return. On May 3 and 5, there were two flights from Britain, USA and Canada with 309 on board.
It was on May 6 that the first flight left Dubai/United Arab Emirates with 197 Sri Lankan passengers. On the same day, 186 students were repatriated from Singapore. And three days later, 275 Sri Lankans left Australia. The majority of them were students.
On May 10, students living Malaysia were brought back. On May 14, Maldives saw the departure of 284 Sri Lankans. The next day, 235 Sri Lankans left Japan.
On May 16, a flight brought 72 citizens from Myanmar followed, on May 17, by 69 Sri Lankans who were in Thailand. Finally, on May 19, two Kuwait Airways flights brought 466 Sri Lankans home.
A total of 110 people arrived from Indonesia on May 21; and on May 23, a second flight left Bangladesh with 276 Sri Lankans on board. Two days later, there was a flight from Moscow/Ukraine carrying 181 Sri Lankans, predominantly students.
On May 25, a flight from Qatar scheduled to transfer 275 Sri Lankans home was suspended, prompting the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Relations to instruct the relevant Embassy to find accommodation for them. It was allowed to proceed two days later.
A flight with 277 Sri Lankans, mostly students, left Belarus on May 28.