A total of 103 Sri Lankan workers held at detention centres in Riyadh and Jeddah have been repatriated today (May 19).

The detainees were repatriated to the island via flight SV 786 chartered by the Saudi Airlines.

Repatriation of Sri Lankan migrant workers detained in Saudi Arabia is now complete as this is the last batch of detainees to return to the country, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Jeddah said in a statement.

“This is the last leg of the repatriation process initiated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in April 2021. With this latest cluster, a total of 180 individuals, 49 females and 131 males have been brought back to Sri Lanka. Since July 2020, 334 Sri Lankan deportees have returned to Sri Lanka from Saudi Arabia.”

This repatriation process of deportation camp inmates is a result of an ongoing collaboration between the Saudi authorities and the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah, the statement read further.