Foreign Ministry seeks help identifying woman who died in Lebanon after 42 years

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism has appealed for public assistance in identifying a deceased woman believed to be a Sri Lankan national who reportedly lived in Lebanon for more than 42 years.

In a public notice reported by the Daily Mirror, the Ministry said the woman was known by the name “Rani Sri Lanki”. It gave no other name, no district of origin and no date of death, and said her identity, family members and known contacts have yet to be established.

Anyone able to help identify her or trace her relatives has been asked to contact the Ministry’s Consular Affairs Division, 16th Floor, ‘Suhurupaya’, Battaramulla — by telephone on +94 11 227 5525 or by email at [email protected]. The Ministry asked that information be provided within 14 days of the notice and said all responses would be treated in strict confidence.

A second appeal in four months

The notice is the second of its kind this year, issued in an identical format by the same division. On 6 June 2026 the Ministry appealed for help identifying a woman in Lebanon known only as “Rahma” — the same Battaramulla address, the same hotline, the same confidentiality assurance.

The two appeals concern different people. Rahma was described as living at the time of her appeal, and was reported a day later to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon; nothing in the current notice links the two cases, and the Ministry has not connected them.

What the June case did show is why such appeals are necessary. Rahma had reportedly lived in Lebanon for around 25 years, was identified as Sri Lankan only by her neighbours, and no Sri Lankan contacts were found on her mobile phone. EconomyNext reported at the time that an estimated 7,500 Sri Lankan-origin migrant workers remain in Lebanon, most having lived there for more than a decade.

At more than 42 years, the residence reported in the current notice is the longest this desk has recorded in such a case — long enough that the woman may have outlived the contacts who could identify her.

No verified Sri Lankan newsroom other than the Daily Mirror had carried the notice at the time of writing. The Tamil-language outlet Tamilwin published it within half an hour of the Daily Mirror, but is not among the newsrooms this desk counts toward source verification.