Fifth evacuation flight of Sri Lankans from Lebanon

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Lebanon, in collaboration with the Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka, Foreign Ministry and the Sri Lankan Airlines, repatriated a group of 175 Sri Lankans including four children by Sri Lankan Airlines charter flight UL 554 recently.

The Embassy had an evacuation list of 1,384 persons registered to return to Sri Lanka, to whom individual telephone calls were made by the Embassy, of which 860 persons refused to leave citing numerous reasons. A total number of 348 Sri Lankans have obtained tickets by Qatar airways and requested landing approval.

The evacuation was assisted by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Ministry of Labour, Directorate of General Security (Immigration Dept.), Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and staff of Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Ambassador Shani Calyaneratne Karunaratne, Second Secretary (Labour) T. Luxmidharan, and the staff of the Embassy facilitated the repatriation process.