4,000 Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia queued to return

14 December 2020 09:15 am

• The Embassy had planned to evacuate more Sri Lankans in small batches in the coming weeks 

• There are around 135,000 Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia at the moment

Around 4,000 Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia are queued to return to Sri Lanka, an official said yesterday.

There are around 135,000 Sri Lankans in Saudi Arabia at the moment.

Charge d’affairs of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh Madhuka Wickramarachchi said that the Embassy had planned to evacuate more Sri Lankans in small batches in the coming weeks. He also thanked the Mr. Sandun Jayasinghe and the Srilankan Airlines team in Riyadh for their excellent cooperation in this carefully planned evacuation exercise.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh, in collaboration with the Srilankan Airlines repatriated 391 Sri Lankans from Saudi Arabia since December 06.The latest evacuation flight brought 50 Sri Lankans to the country, yesterday.

“These Sri Lankans, the majority of whom suffering from medical complications were selected by the Embassy on compassionate grounds,” he said.