Red Cross sees "unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe" in Sri Lanka

May 14, 2009, 16:12 GMT

Geneva - Hundreds of seriously wounded or ill patients are waiting for medical care in north-eastern Sri Lanka but the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that for the third consecutive day it could not evacuate them due to heavy fighting.

'Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe,' Pierre Krahenbuhl, the ICRC's director of operations, said, using language rarely employed by the organization.

'No humanitarian organization can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices,' he added in a statement.

The organization has also been unable to bring in 25 metric tonnes of its own food as well as a shipment of 500 tonnes being sent by the World Food Programme.

The ICRC called the lack of access 'unacceptable.'

Thousands of people were said to still be trapped in a small area along the coast within the conflict zone.

'As fighting goes on unabated, civilians are forced to seek protection in hand-dug bunkers, making it even more difficult to fetch scarce drinking water and food,' the ICRC statement read.

An ICRC official in Geneva would not place the blame for the lack of access on any one side to the conflict between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels, saying only that the ongoing fighting made it impossible to reach people in need.

'We need security and unimpeded access now in order to save hundreds of lives,' Krahenbuhl said. 'The ICRC stands ready to carry out its humanitarian work as soon as conditions permit.'

Hundreds are civilians are said to have been killed this week. The United Nations has called for an end to the fightng.

'There's an increasing amount of bloodshed in that area and I am afraid it is not finished yet,' said the UN's chief of humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, during a visit to Geneva this week.

'What we want to avoid is an even worse catastrophe. It could get worse,' Holmes warned.

The Sri Lankan military said it is in the final phase of ending an operation aimed at crushing the LTTE rebels, which has been fighting for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils for 25 years.

Since January, more than 170,000 civilians have fled rebel- controlled areas as the military offensive has reduced the ground held by the LTTE.