Colombo – Six Sri Lankan fishermen stranded at the port of Al Quseir on Egypt's Red Sea coast have been helped to return home to Sri Lanka by IOM.

The group, who left Sri Lanka's west coast in March 2008, drifted into Egyptian waters when their boat developed technical problems. At Al Quseir they were unable to repair the vessel, ran out of money for fuel, food and medicine, and had no means of getting home.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lankan mission in Cairo then contacted IOM for help.

IOM provided medical screening for the group and then arranged their return home by air, using its "Humanitarian Assistance to Stranded Migrants'' fund, which provides assistance to destitute migrants needing to return to their home country.

In Sri Lanka, the fishermen were handed over to their families and an NGO – the Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen and Fishing Crafts - Sri Lanka.

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For more information please contact: Priyantha Kulatunge, IOM Sri Lanka, Tel: +94.11.532 5310 / 532 5300, Email: mkulatunge@iom.in or Passanna Gunasekera, Tel: +94.11.533 3432, Email: pgunasekera@iom.int