New Delhi — A new wave of 114 Sri Lankan Tamils has reached southern India, bringing the total number of refugees fleeing violence in the island nation close to 3,500 over the last six months, it was reported Tuesday.
The refugees reached the port town of Rameswaram in the southern Tamil Nadu state Monday night.
The refugees told the PTI news agency that following the deteriorating security situation, 10,000 people were waiting to take boats to cross the Palk Strait to reach the Tamil Nadu coast.
The total number of such refugees has risen to 3,487 since January 12, the IANS news agency reported. The number has seen a sharp increase from 1,188 arrivals in May, with growing tension in Sri Lanka over the past few weeks.
The news agency said the flow of refugees ebbed during February and March but rose again since April following attacks on Tamils by Sri Lankan security forces in north-western Mannar and eastern Trincomalee districts.
The conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government forced more than 200,000 Sri Lankan Tamils to seek asylum in Tamil Nadu in the late 1980s.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka for two decades in a civil war that has claimed more than 70,000 lives.
