The Health Ministry said that a team of medical officers are currently checking the health conditions of the over hundred foreign nationals rescued by the navy from a sinking vessel off the east coast today.
Medical examinations are being conducted on the passengers of the boat under th instruction of the Director General Health Services, Dr. Palitha Mahipala.
The ministry further revealed that so far 8 persons have been identified to be suffering from severe dehydration, due to the lack of food and drinking water onboard the ship, and that they have been admitted to the Akkaraipattu Hospital for treatment.
Blood tests are being conducted to diagnose whether the remainder of rescued passengers have contracted illnesses such as malaria, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile measures have been taken to perform a postmortem examination on the one passenger who was found dead.
Sri Lanka navy rescued 138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a distressed ship around 50 nautical miles off the eastern coast of Akkaraipattu.
Navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya said that the vessel had been adrift for 10 days before it sank on Sunday.
Police said 14 were Myanmar nationals while the others were Bangladeshis, but it was not yet known where they came from or were headed.
