Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said today that as at August 31, 2017 there were seven hundred and twenty eight refugees in Sri Lanka.

A majority of the refugees – 533 – were from Pakistan, followed by 113 from Afghanistan.

There are 35 refugees from Myanmar currently seeking shelter in Sri Lanka and 14 from Syria.

Ten refugees from Palestine, 8 from the Maldives, 7 from Iran and 6 from Yemen reside in the country, while 1 each from the countries of Somalia and Tunisia have also sought shelter in Sri Lanka.

All of the refugees are in the care of the United Nations Refugee Agency, the Ports and Shipping Minister said, adding that they would all be expatriated to other countries in due course.