165 Missing as Boat Sinks Off Sri Lanka
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A boat carrying ethnic Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka’s civil war overturned Thursday off the north coast of the island nation and 165 people were feared dead, the military said.
Intercepted radio messages from Tamil rebels indicated 95 bodies had been recovered, military officials said.
Seventy people were missing, including 22 children, the officials said.
The disaster could not be confirmed independently because the government does not allow reporters into rebel-controlled regions and there is no telephone link to the area.
The boat, carrying refugees to India, nearly 35 miles away, sank soon after it left a rebel base, the officials said.
The rebels control the area. Sri Lanka’s navy did not send rescue craft because it wanted to avoid a confrontation, officials said.
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