The body of a Tamil refugee who took his own life in Vietnam in protest of the country’s deportation attempts, has been repatriated to the island.

Sundaralingam Kiritharan, who was aged 37 at the time of his death, was one of 303 Tamil refugees rescued by the Singapore Navy last month when their boat was in danger of sinking in waters near Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. After being rescued, the refugees, who had attempted to go to Canada by boat from Myanmar, were placed in a refugee camp in Vietnam.

After finding out that the Vietnamese authorities were making arrangements to deport them to Sri Lanka, the refugees protested vociferously. During these protests, two of the group attempted suicide on November 18. While they were both taken to hospital, Kiritharan was not able to be resuscitated. His death was announced on November 24.

Kiritharan, of Chavakachcheri, was a father of four, including a six month old baby. His family had been struggling to bring his body home for funeral rites, with the cost of repatriation prohibitively expensive.

Kiritharan’s body was finally repatriated this week and arrived in Sri Lanka on Saturday. It has been sent to Negombo Hospital for post-mortem examination before it will be released to his family.

“We are pleading with UNHCR and in this very difficult situation, we request you to take us seriously and help us to resettle in countries as refugees,” Kiritharan’s group had said in a statement in November.