The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism has issued a public appeal asking for help to identify an individual believed to be of Sri Lankan origin who is currently in Lebanon, Ada Derana reported on Saturday.

According to the Ministry, the woman is known by the name “Rahma,” but her true identity, family details and next of kin remain unverified.

Members of the public with any information that could assist in identifying the individual, or in tracing her family members or known contacts, have been asked to come forward.

Information can be passed to the Consular Affairs Division at the Ministry’s Battaramulla headquarters: 16th Floor, ‘Suhurupaya’, Battaramulla; telephone +94 11 227 5525; email [email protected]. All information provided will be treated in strict confidence, the Ministry said.

Lebanon hosts a long-standing community of Sri Lankan migrant workers, predominantly women in domestic-work roles, who can become difficult to trace when employer-tied visa arrangements lapse or under wartime conditions. The country has been on heightened diplomatic watch through 2026 as Sri Lankan officials track Sri Lankans caught up in the Israel–Hezbollah conflict and renewed escalation in southern Lebanon.

Update — June 6 evening: Al Jazeera reported, and Newswire and EconomyNext subsequently confirmed, that Rahma has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon. She had reportedly lived in Lebanon for around 25 years and had refused to leave the area during the ongoing conflict in order to continue caring for stray cats and dogs, according to the reports.

EconomyNext, citing embassy sources, said the Sri Lankan mission in Lebanon had yet to formally confirm her nationality. Rahma was identified as Sri Lankan by her neighbours; no Sri Lankan contacts had so far been found on her mobile phone, the sources said. Her body is being held at Najde Hospital in Nabatieh, near the village of Habbouch where the strike occurred. The embassy and a humanitarian organisation are seeking permission from the Lebanese authorities and defence forces to access the area to verify her identity. Around 25 Sri Lankans were evacuated from southern Lebanon two weeks before the latest Israeli strikes, EconomyNext added, and an estimated 7,500 Sri Lankan-origin migrant workers remain in Lebanon — most of whom have lived there for more than a decade.

Sources