Two Aid Workers Killed in Sri Lanka

Published May 14, 2009 @ 03:52PM PT

Two aid workers have been killed in Sri Lanka 'no-fire zone' over the past week. According to Patronus Analytical:

"On 13 May, Red Cross worker Majurin Sivakurunathan was killed in the crossfire alongside his mother according to an ICRC spokeswoman speaking to CNN. On 8 May an unnamed Sri Lankan aid worker with Caritas Australia was killed during a government artillery attack on the 'No Fire Zone' in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka."

So far this year, seven aid workers have died in Sri Lanka. Since January, at least forty-three aid workers have been killed worldwide.

In other Sri Lanka news:

- Heavy fighting is preventing the Red Cross from evacuating injured civilians from the no-fire zone.

- Sri Lanka accuses rebel Tamil Tigers of firing on thousands of civilians as they escaped the no-fire zone earlier today.

- Doctors abandoned the only hospital left in the no-fire zone, leaving as many as 400 badly wounded patients behind. According to the AP:

"Doctors and aides abandoned the only hospital in Sri Lanka's war zone amid unrelenting shell attacks, a health official said Thursday...The medical staff was huddling in a nearby bunker because of the nonstop shelling, and could hear the cries of hundreds of patients unable to leave the hospital begging for food and water, according to a health official in the war zone."

For the most recent UN Emergency Situation Report, see here. The UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people are still trapped in the no-fire zone, which is now only one square mile in size. For an overview of the situation, please see this excellent article from Reuters.

[AP photo of an ambulance burning in the no-fire zone]

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Author

Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.