Housemaid flown back in semi-conscious state

• The victim had been critically ill and in a semi-conscious state when she arrived in the country  
• Daughter says her mother had been subject to harassment  
• Employment agency demanded Rs.600,000 to bring her back

By Kanchana Kumara   

A woman from Wewalawewa village in Dambulla who went abroad as a housemaid in Kuwait in search of greener pastures about three months ago has been flown back to Sri Lanka in critical condition without having informed her relatives or the Sri Lankan authorities.  

The victim M. Chamini Wasana (48), had been critically ill and in a semi-conscious state when she arrived in the country.   

Her daughter told the media that the airport security division informed the relatives regarding her mother and they called over at the airport and admitted her to the Intensive Care Unit at Dambulla Base Hospital.    

A spokesman for the hospital said that she was in a critical condition and that she would be transferred to another hospital.   

Her daughter said that her mother found employment in Kuwait through an employment agency in Kurunegala about three months ago and that her employer had handed over her to the employment agency in Kuwait complaining the she was not conversant in Arabic. She said her mother had been subject to harassment and that the employment agency in Kurunegala demanded Rs.600,000 to bring her back.  

She said her mother who went abroad as a housemaid after the death of her father to provide for her education was now in a predicament. She said the doctors were still to identify the cause of her sickness.   

She said she made a statement in this regard to Dambulla police. She requested the authorities to hold a formal investigation of the incident and mete out justice to her mother.