Two missing after raft capsizes

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

Gonaganara police along with Navy divers from the Galle camp and the public have launched a search operation to locate the bodies of two men who were washed away while they attempted to cross a river at Demodara.

Police Media Spokesman, SP Ajith Rohana told the Sunday Observer that two persons who attempted to cross the Menik Ganga on a raft made of barrels and planks were drowned when their raft capsized and was washed away in Gonaganara in the Demodara area around 3.30 p.m. on Friday. Around nine persons had been travelling on the ill-fated raft at the time.

He said that employees of the Dole Lanka Banana cultivation used the raft daily to cross the Menik Ganga to go to work and return along with their motorcycles and bicycles on the raft. On that fateful day the raft was swept downstream due to choppy waters with six motorcycles, two bicycles and the passengers.

According to police, the deceased have been identified as E.A. Supun Pradeep (25), a resident of Raja Mawatha, Buttala and M.G Pushpakumara (28) of Dambulla.

According to the police the divers had found the motorcycles and bicycles embedded in the river bed. The bodies of the two persons are yet to be found. OIC Gonaganara Sub Inspector P.M. Nandana Samaraweera is conducting investigations.