Sri Lanka Navy today (3) rescued a vessel load of illegal foreign job seekers who had been marooned for 13 days at sea at a distance of 150 nautical miles off the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

The wooden hull vessel with 91 persons on board had left from Cox's Bazaar located on the Burmese and Bangladeshi boarder on February 9. The passengers comprised of 67 Burmese nationals and 24 Bangladeshi persons. They were heading for Thailand and Malaysia for lucrative employment.

The vessel had developed an engine defect on the February 20 and begun to drift for 13 days until it was rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy. According to the passengers on the vessel, 20 of their colleagues had died of starvation and dehydration due to the lack of food and water.

The Navy launched the search operation after they had been alerted to sighting of a suspicious vessel by the fishermen off Mulaithivu.

The ill-fated vessel is now being towed to the Trincomalee Harbour by the Navy after providing food and medical treatment to the 71 passengers who were lucky enough to be alive after the 13-day ordeal at sea.

Sri Lanka Navy has appraised the respective embassies and diplomatic missions of the incident.