Lankans workers in Iraq to fly home

A group of Sri Lankan laborers who threatened to commit suicide for not paying their salaries will each be given $3,000 and flown home for free, the Iraqi government said Wednesday, foreign media reports said.

In a statement Wednesday, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the workers would be paid and flown back to Sri Lanka, which they left in 2009 to take construction jobs in Maysan. He also said the government would sue the Talat Hussam-Din Co. that laid off the Sri Lankans when it ran out of money to finish the construction project.

"This is a positive step toward completely ending the misery of these helpless workers trapped in our province," Maysan provincial councilman Wail Salman said. "I am sure that this news will bring great relief to these workers who have been begging food from nearby villages."

Earlier, the Government of Iraq has requested the Ministry of External Affairs in Sri Lanka to assist to file legal action against a private company due to the non-payment of salaries to the 41 Sri Lankan workers in Iraq.