Colombo (PTI): With just hours left for the 48- hour deadline set by the Sri Lankan Government for LTTE to allow trapped Tamil civilians to cross over, there was barely a trickle of outflow, forcing international aid agencies to attempt a last-minute agreement.

As the Tamil Tigers' stood rigid to their stand that there were not holding civilians forcibly, there appeared to be no movement on the ground in response to the deadline set by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Lankan officials ruled out possibility of any ceasefire with the rebels to allow 'safe passage' for an estimated 250,000 hapless civilians in the north of the island and Government forces pressed on with their offensive to crush the Tamil Tigers' snatching more territory from them. International Red Cross officials said they were negotiating with the LTTE to evacuate more wounded people from the conflict zone.

"We are negotiating with both the parties (government and rebels) to the conflict to work out a safe passage for many more patients who need urgent medical treatment," ICRC spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said.

However, she did not give any figure of how many wounded people were still trapped in the Tigers'-held areas. The ICRC and UN evacuated 350 wounded civilians, including 50 children, yesterday after negotiations with the LTTE. There are number of UN and ICRC vehicles still stranded in the areas held by Tamil Tigers'.

Wijeratne said that these vehicles could be used to bring more wounded out to 'safe zones'. Meanwhile, 65 civilians crossed over to the government controlled areas across Omanthai entry/exit points in Vavuniya on Friday.