The Hindu : National : She was dying, yet she suckled the baby

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She was dying, yet she suckled the baby

V. Raghavendra

The child is among the Sri Lankans, fleeing the battle zone, rescued at Uppada

— Photo: Special Arrangement

Lucky escape: One-year-old Kubera at the Government General Hospital in Kakinada.

KAKINADA: Among the 11 Sri Lankan fishermen and women rescued at Uppada here is a 12-month-old Kubera. Sadly, her mother Mary died on the high seas a few days after fishermen from Mullaithivu, numbering 21, set sail on a fibre boat to flee the battle zone in Sri Lanka.

Like others on the ill-fated boat, Mary had only sea water to drink and no food to eat.

But she did not miss suckling the baby and that’s what kept Kubera alive and healthy.

Dehydration

Two days after the fisher folk reached to safety, Kubera appears to be in a playful mood but her family and relatives are at a loss for words, not knowing how to face the aftermath of their 10-day ordeal in the Bay of Bengal.

The fishermen and women, all of them severely dehydrated, are being treated in the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Kakinada. They are traumatised by the situation they found themselves in.

GGH Superintendent M.B.R. Sarma told The Hindu that all of them were out of danger and would be discharged in a day or two.

Meanwhile, district officials are establishing contact with the Sri Lankan High Commission in Chennai to make arrangements for shifting the fisher folk to the refugee camps at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.

District Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi is supervising their rehabilitation.

Case booked

As per law, a case has been booked against them under the Foreigners Act for entering the country without valid documents.

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