Lankan family of four safely returns to Colombo from Gaza

A Sri Lankan family of four, who were stranded in Gaza, safely returned to Colombo on Nov 24, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

It said that the Consular Affairs Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitated the repatriation of the family. Upon their arrival in Colombo, officials from the Foreign Ministry received the returning Sri Lankans.

The officials from the Sri Lankan Embassy in Cairo, working in coordination with the Egyptian authorities, visited the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza and received the stranded Sri Lankans. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitated the logistics and air transportation for the returnees with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

A total of 15 Sri Lankans have been rescued from the Gaza Strip through Rafah border crossing and they were safely repatriated to Sri Lanka in coordination with Sri Lanka Missions in Cairo and Ramallah since the beginning of the crisis on October 7, 2023.