Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 12

- On 13 May, the UN Security Council issued a press statement expressing its grave concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka and called for urgent action by all parties to ensure the safety of civilians.

- For the third consecutive day, a ferry chartered by the ICRC carrying 25 MT of food has been unable to evacuate patients because of continuous heavy fighting, according to the ICRC. Read more and download report ...

Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 8

- An ICRC chartered ferry delivered 25 metric tons of WFP food and some medicine to Mullavaikkal in the conflict zone on 7 May 2009. The ICRC ferry was also used to evacuate 495 people from the area. For seven days prior to this operation security constraints had prevented the ICRC from reaching the conflict zone.

- UNHCR was engaged in a two day exercise to allocate 300 emergency shelter to Persons with Specific Needs (PWSN) close to medical and water and sanitation facilities in Menik Farm Zone 2.

- ICRC will start distributing food and NFI packs donated by the Government of India for 20,000 displaced families in Menik Farm.

- On 6 May, MSF France started the construction of a field hospital in the Menik Farm IDP site, following authorization by the Ministry of Health. Read more and download report ...

Sri Lanka: ICRC evacuates 495 from conflict zone and delivers 25 tonnes of food

In north-eastern Sri Lanka, 495 sick and injured patients and accompanying caregivers were evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today. An ICRC-chartered ferry, the Green Ocean I, also delivered 25 metric tonnes of food provided by the World Food Programme, together with some medicines, for distribution among the thousands of civilians still trapped in a small area along the coast within the conflict zone.

"Heavy fighting is taking place near the medical assembly point at Mullavaikkal, which puts the lives of patients, medical workers and ICRC staff at great risk," said Jacques de Maio, the ICRC head of operations for South Asia, in Geneva. "This hampers medical evacuations of wounded civilians and their families." Read more ...

Navy continues its special rescue mission in North-eastern seas: 355 patients and civilians were evacuated on board ‘MV Green Ocean’

Sri Lanka Navy evacuated 355 Tamil civilians and patients on board “MV Green Ocean” on 30th April 2009. The evacuation of patients and civilians trapped in LTTE clutches in the un-cleared areas in Mullaithivu is being carried out under the ICRC flag. Sri Lanka Navy is providing safe passage for evacuees on humanitarian grounds.

The evacuees consisted of 92 adult males, 149 female adults and 114 children in total. Among them were 55 male and 54 female patients needing medical treatment, and they were rushed to the Padaviya Genaral Hospital and Field Hospital in Pulmudai. Read more ...