Chennai

Amid the looming economic crisis and political instability in the island nation, eight people from Sri Lanka reached the Indian shores at Arichalmunai, Rameswaram on Monday.

The eight members of two families from Sri Lanka claimed that they had paid their life's savings of Rs 1 lakh to a boatman to get dropped on the Indian coast.

The Indian Coast Guard rescued them from Arichalmunai where they were stranded after reaching the Indian shores on Sunday and brought them to the mainland in a hovercraft.

Among those rescued are three children aged 9, 7 and 4.

They were all escorted to safety into the Mandapam refugee camp after questioning at the Marine police station.

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The arrival of eight new refugees has taken the total number of refugees who have landed on Indian soil from Sri Lanka to 134.