Nilmini, who unfortunately died after a coconut fell on her head

Death arrives unexpectedly at a moment no one can imagine. It was due to such an unexpected incident that 48-year-old Mrs. Nilmini Sunethra Gunathilaka, a resident of Henegama, Pokunuwita, Horana, unfortunately had to bid farewell to life.

This death occurred when a coconut unfortunately fell on her head while she was staying in the section built behind the kitchen of a relative's house.

She was a quality controller at a garment factory in the Henegama area and was loved by everyone. Mr. Chaminda Premakumara, who works as an office assistant at the Horana Divisional Secretariat, is her husband. As this couple had no children, she used to visit her husband's brother, Mr. Gaminda Pathmakumara's house, on holidays and spend time there. Relatives say that on the 10th of last month, she arrived at that house early in the morning, bringing coconuts to dry.

On that day, around 11:00 AM, a person had come to pluck coconuts from that garden, and Mrs. Chandrika, Mrs. Nilmini's sister-in-law, was in the yard hanging clothes. While Mrs. Nilmini was standing near the kitchen doorway, a coconut from a tree about 80 feet tall was plucked and dropped to the ground. That coconut, after hitting a ridge near the wall and bouncing back, struck Mrs. Nilmini's head at a moment she least expected.

According to Mr. Gaminda Pathmakumara, the owner of the house, when he heard his wife's scream and rushed over, Mrs. Nilmini was already lying face down on the ground. There was excessive bleeding from her right ear, and she was already unconscious. The family members immediately acted, took her to Horana Base Hospital, and after providing basic treatment including artificial respiration, transferred her to the Colombo National Hospital for further treatment.

Although she underwent surgery at the hospital and received treatment in the intensive care unit, doctors were unable to save her life. After fighting between life and death for several days, she breathed her last around 1:30 AM on the 15th of last month. Eyewitnesses believe that the coconut tree was located on elevated ground near the wall, and the coconut, after falling to the ground, bounced and hit her head.