Family’s attempt to flee Sri Lanka ends in ruin
STORY: This Sri Lankan navy vessel is looking for potential human smuggling boats.
As more people look to escape the crisis-hit country, patrols along the coast have become more regular.
They check this fishing boat. It's carrying nothing more than nets and fish.
Leaving the country unofficially is illegal in Sri Lanka - but people have increasingly been willing to take that risk.
Nearly a thousand people have been arrested this year to date - almost a record-breaking number.
Meenu Mekala's husband is among them.
In late May, they boarded a 30-foot boat under the cover of night - with their two teenage sons.
They paid their life savings of 1400 dollars for the one-way trip to Australia.
“We only had seawater to bathe with and use in the toilet. We couldn’t use fresh water because then we could have run out of it. We suffered from hunger unlike ever before. Not even in our childhood did we suffered such hunger. Then we couldn’t sleep because the boat was rocking so much."
Their ship suffered a fuel problem - and eventually it was intercepted by the Australian coast guard.
The family was sent back to Sri Lanka.
Meenu faces the charge of leaving the country from an unauthorized port.
Her husband is accused of an additional charge of assisting in the logistics of the journey - and now awaits trial in prison.
“When we returned, four people including my husband were placed in remand prison. Our main breadwinner is my husband. My husband is inside the prison. Without him we don’t have an income. We have to pay lawyers, children have to go to school. When the country’s economy is in its worst shape, we have fallen into a bigger hole. That’s what has happened to us.”
Hit hard by the pandemic and economic mismanagement, Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades.
But Meenu's family - with their passports cancelled for five years - won't be able to leave it any time soon.
相關影片推薦
- 1:44貴婦奈奈男友父涉捲款逃 重金聘王牌律師辯護華視影音14,283 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:42【直擊】余天孫子女終於回家了!樂樂緊抱余筱萍 拉著余祥銓捨不得放娛樂星聞103,442 次觀看・21 小時前
- 2:16基隆區公所停車場遭控荒廢 廠商:翻新屬市府權限華視影音3,449 次觀看・18 小時前
- 1:37虎山巖金針花開了!假日估湧2萬人 聯外道塞爆華視影音14,500 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:07王力宏難敵歲月摧殘顏值崩塌! 新造型網友不買單直呼:老態盡顯娛樂星聞9,376 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:45「刑事戰將」遭收押 同寢被告挑選背景單純|#鏡新聞鏡新聞2,302 次觀看・23 小時前
- 1:41都更後變無家可歸! 住戶拿70萬怨:廁所都買不到東森新聞影音111,666 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:46切割唐鳳? 準數發部長發信改官網文字TVBS新聞網影音2,626 次觀看・16 小時前
- 1:07台鐵舊自強故障臨時換車! 旅客控「買座票變站票」東森新聞影音3,471 次觀看・21 小時前
- 1:09Lisa大方公開戀情了? 和LV三公子直接同框合照「開心互動影片曝光」娛樂星聞8,704 次觀看・19 小時前
熱門必看
- 13:05雪力神分析INF人!精彩到連唐老師都忘了講星座!?Ep.216-3唐綺陽談星室27,845 次觀看・5 天前
- 14:06到京都別只衝伏見稻荷神社 想變美、求戀愛運來這才內行Yahoo創作摩人5,771 次觀看・5 天前
- 11:30【淚之女婿】突變劇情被罵爆... 原來賢祐就是白血球?眼淚是海仁找回記憶關鍵?七大《女王》解析&主演幕後故事Ki笑人生22,696 次觀看・3 天前
- 8:05拿水沖香奈兒!?90萬小廢包沒人帶?! 2024精品新趨勢 永續環保最時尚!!Sherry袁曼軒3,905 次觀看・6 天前
- 7:40花200萬存0056後悔了?4年定期定額0050與0056投報大公開!SHIN LI21,672 次觀看・5 天前