A nine-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister drowned when they jumped off a cliff beside the sea in Trincomalee with their mother in an alleged suicide attempt yesterday afternoon, the police said.
A middle-aged woman with her two children had jumped off a cliff at Koneswaram Fort around 1.00pm. A group of sailors who were at the vicinity had rescued the trio and admitted them to the Trincomalee Hospital.
The two children had been pronounced dead due to drowning whilst the mother is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition, the police said.
The victims had not been identified at the time this edition went to press nor the motive behind the act. Trincomalee Police are conducting an inquiry.