Eight Sri Lankans, including a two-month-old baby, were rescued by Coast Guard officials from a mini-island near Rameswaram. The officials were alerted that eight people were stranded on the island on Saturday night.
The officials then used a hovercraft to rescue the people and brought them to Rameswaram.
The eight people include a family from Jaffna and another from Kilinochchi who left Sri Lanka and reached the mini-sand island near Dhanushkodi on Saturday. The families were running out of food supplies and surviving on water when the CG officials rescued them.
The families were handed over to Marine Police who then sent them to the Mandapam camp after questioning.
Several Sri Lankan citizens fled their country amidst a debilitating economic crisis. The country is going through one of the worst economic crises that it has witnessed in its history.
Many Sri Lankan Tamils have crossed the ocean to reach the Tamil Nadu coast seeking refuge in the country.
Since March, almost 150 Sri Lankan Tamils have arrived at Rameswaram beach as the island nation continues to reel under a crippling economic crisis.