Nine year Tharindu who died

Nine year Tharindu who died ....

falling into pit while flying kite

An unfortunate incident of a nine year old small

child dying as a result of having fallen into a toilet pit full of water was reported recently from Ethkandura area and the said pit had not being used.

The child had after coming from school on Monday remained at the textile sales outlet of his mother and had gone out alone to fly a kite when he met with this tragedy. After having his lunch around 3 o'clock the deceased child had gone to the outdoor zone behind the textile shop with the idea of fling the kite. Close to that spot there had been a building being newly erected. He had in fact started walking backwards watching the kite soaring higher and higher and on that occasion the child had fallen inside a toilet pit which had been dug behind the said building, unaware that there was such a pit there.

Villagers in the neighbourhood had told the police that the child concerned had been having the kite in his hands for several hours and was flying it and that his father who had come after finishing work to fetch his mother and the child was able to come across the child's pair of slippers and a part of a reel of thread on which clues they ultimately discovered the body having searched around. It was the father who saw the child first fallen inside this unused toilet pit which in fact was found to be full of water and deep a number of feet. One of the persons who rocked there had jumped into the pit and managed to pull the child out but after the child was taken to Elpitiya Basic Hospital it was reported from the hospital that the child had already breathed his last.

Tharindu Chathuranga Liyanage living in Ethkandura, Nambaraaththa was a child studying in Grade 4 of Ethkandura Seevali Maha Vidyalaya who succumbed to this unfortunate death. The deceased child's father Thushara Priyantha (35) had been employed as a cinnamon-peeler while the mother Deepika Damayanthi (31) works at a textile sales shop at Ethkandura Junction. They also have another 12 year old son.

Information and photos: Chanaka Tharanga -- Elpitiya