Chennai, India: Indian authorities have intercepted a truck in Tiruvallur near Chennai where they found 33 Sri Lankan refugees missing from four government-run camps. The refugees, including six women and six children, were planning to take a boat to Australia, police said.

It prompted refugee activists to call on the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to ease restrictions on Sri Lankan refugees living in guarded camps.

An ethnic Sinhalese Sri Lankan man eats his lunch during a train ride. For the hundreds of thousands of minority ethnic Tamils, the Sri Lankan government's repeated promises of post-war reconciliation ring false. Credit:AP

Nadu

Campaigners said the case showed how desperate Sri Lankan refugees were to flee India where they have been confined to closed camps for years and have no right to work.