Sri Lankans face 'catastrophe'

Sri Lankan civilians caught between warring government forces and Tamil separatists are facing "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe", the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.The assessment comes as the Sri Lankan military said on Thursday that civilians continued to flee the combat zone under fire from Tamil Tiger forces using them as human shields."Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," Pierre Krahenbuhl, the director of operations at the ICRC, said."No humanitarian organisation can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices."The Red Cross on Thursday sent a ferry to the battle zone in an effort to deliver food aid and to evacuate the wounded, but it could not reach the coastline due to the continuing violence."As fighting goes on unabated, civilians are forced to seek protection in hand-dug bunkers, making it even more difficult to fetch scarce drinking water and food," the ICRC said.