Jet Liner Sails with Jaffna civilians; Navy re-embarks on its humanitarian Mission

Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law & Order

SL navy yesterday (Wednesday the 31st of January) sailed its passenger vessel "Jetliner" from Jaffna to Trincomalee facilitating another civilian move. The vessel arrived Trincomalee harbour safely last evening with 1000 civilians .

The International Red Cross refused to allow their flag to be flown on the Naval craft carrying civilians, as the LTTE terrorists wanted to have liberty to carryout unblemished attack at the humanitarian convoy.

According to the naval sources, this was the first civilian move by sea since the 13th of January as the rough sea conditions prevailed in the eastern seas did not permit safe sea passage for the civilians.

Since August 2006, the only modes of transportation available for the civilians to travel between Jaffna and the South are by air and sea. Yet, it was only very few who could afford the airfare of the air transport which is done by the private airline companies.

The Jaffna -Kandy main road or the popularly known A-9 highway that runs through un-liberated areas in Wanni remains closed since the 14th of August 2006, following the major terrorist attack at the peninsula.

Since then, SL Navy took over the challenge of transporting civilians between Trincomalee and Jaffna with their limited resources. However, the naval fighting units have so far been effectively saved the Tamil civilians from all seaborne attacks at the convoy sending the terrorists to a watery grave.