Ruchira Ranasingha, a 50-year-old Sri Lankan woman, faces the camera against the corner of a wood-panelled room. She is wearing a bright pink patterned top, with dark hair tied back. The photograph is a head-and-shoulders portrait taken indoors, with natural light illuminating the wooden walls behind her.Image source, Supplied
ByAyeshea Perera, Asia Digital Editor and Dinuk Hewawitharana, BBC Sinhala
  • Published1 hour ago

When Ruchira Ranasingha left Sri Lanka almost a decade ago, she could never have imagined she would end up stranded on a tiny archipelago in the South Pacific.

The 50-year-old has now been stuck in the Cook Islands for three years. She tells the BBC she is desperate to go back to Sri Lanka and has even offered to go "handcuffed, bound and gagged".

Ranasingha had been hoping to settle in New Zealand.