In the aftermath of the series of suicide attacks in Catholic churches and hotels, the US State Department has ‘ordered’ the evacuation of all school-age family members of US government employees in Sri Lanka.
In a statement posted on its website on Saturday, the US Embassy in Colombo cautioned non-emergency employees of US government and their family members to leave the country voluntarily. The school age family members were specified as Kindergarten through Grade 12.
The US statement read “Terrorist groups continue plotting attacks in the country targeting civilian locations such as tourist places, transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, places of worship and educational institutions. “The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Sri Lanka due to the security environment,” it stated and called upon travellers to reconsider plans to visit the country.
The travel advisory also advised visitors to have a contingency plan for emergency situations and said it has raised the advisory to Level 3. However, despite the series of attacks it did not impose a travel ban on Lanka.
Several other countries including the UK, Australia and Netherlands also revised travel advisories to Sri Lanka after the Easter Sunday incidents. The UK said to limit all but essential travel to Sri Lanka while Australia urged to ‘reconsider the need to travel to Sri Lanka’ until further notice.
China too has issued a travel warning not to under take any visits to Sri Lanka. If in Sri Lanka, the Chinese Embassy asked travellers to stay away from crowded places and pay attention to safety warnings, stressing that the embassy will not bear any costs of emergency assistance.