Near Sri Lanka’s War Zone, Wounded Civilians Struggle to Cope

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka — The ravages of Sri Lanka’s civil war were on full display on Thursday in the crowded wards of the municipal hospital in this eastern port city, 40 miles from the front line. Catholic nuns with bullet and shrapnel wounds, infants as young as a week old, and men with amputated legs were arrayed on beds or lay on the floor.

A total of 368 injured civilians were being treated in the hospital, and more were on the way. A boatload of 160 patients chartered by the Red Cross was scheduled to dock here late on Thursday.

“We don’t know what happened to our family,” said Mohan Raj, 22, whose arm was shattered by shelling on Feb. 8. “I don’t know who attacked us,” he said. His mother and two siblings disappeared after a loud explosion, he said. His father stood at his bedside on the verge of tears.

The Sri Lankan government has barred reporters and most foreigners from the conflict zone, so the accounts of the injured here in government-controlled territory provided a rare glimpse into the predicament of at least 100,000 civilians trapped behind the front lines.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/asia/13lanka.html?ref=asia

[Coventina]

1. More Sri Lanka wounded evacuated

Source: BBC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has evacuated a further 160 sick and wounded people trapped by fighting in north Sri Lanka.

An ICRC spokeswoman told the BBC that a vessel was on its way to Trincomalee after collecting civilian patients from the coastal village of Putumattalan.

On Tuesday the ICRC evacuated 240 patients from the same village.

The Red Cross says recent fighting has claimed hundreds of civilian lives and trapped tens of thousands of people.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7885612.stm

[panader0]

2. Sri lanka is such a beautiful place.

If not for the fighting it would be a wonderful tourist destination.

[karynnj]

4. I agree - we went there last year

It was a beautiful, interesting country. My daughter had been there for 4 months on a study abroad program - living with 2 families during that time. The people she met were all very very nice and went out of their way to help her.

We had a great time traveling to places she had gone with the program (or where she and friends went on their own). They had some absolutely beautiful hotels obviously built in better times.

[karynnj]

3. Here is a link to a SFRC hearing on Sri Lanka next Tuesday

You can watch it on link you get clicking on the title (Recent developments in Sri Lanka). http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090224p.html Thank you for posting all these articles - I have been reading them, but had nothing to add. I visited Sri Lanka last year at the end of my daughter's 4 month study abroad there. It was a beautiful country with very nice people. These stories are heart breaking.