The high price of a Sri Lankan family's bid to flee crisis

The Sri Lanka Navy patrol team inspects a fishing boat during a random search operation, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

KUDAMADUWELLA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - As anarchy gripped the Sri Lankan city of Colombo in May, Meenu Mekala and Nirosh Ravindra gambled their family's life savings on a two-week, 4,700-km voyage aboard a rusting trawler with their two young sons. The decision ended in ruin.

Meenu, a Buddhist, and Nirosh, a Christian, met and fell in love as migrant labourers in Dubai, despite opposition from their families. They married in 2005 in Nirosh's home village of Kudamaduwella, two hours' drive north of Colombo.