Little Eyon hid in a pond at the Embilipitiya Day Care without anyone knowing.

An unfortunate incident was reported yesterday (9) evening where an 18-month-old child, who was receiving care at a daycare center in the Thorakolayaya Muliadiyawela area of Embilipitiya, drowned after falling into a pond located within the premises. The child's mother works at a garment factory and reportedly entrusted her infant child to this daycare center before going for her shift from 2 PM to 10 PM.

Police state that in addition to the child who died after falling into the pond, three other children are also receiving care at this daycare center. Police identified the negligence of the child's caregivers during the CCTV examination after the incident. The child, unsupervised, was walking in the yard when he saw a water bottle, tried to grab it, and it accidentally fell into the pond. The child then instinctively walked towards the pond and stepped into it to try and retrieve the bottle. As the child was drowning, he cried out 'Amma, Amma' (Mom, Mom), but no one was there to pay attention to the child. According to the CCTV footage, at that moment, a phone call was received at the office, and the caretaker was loudly answering it. The caretaker only realized the child was missing about 20 minutes after he had drowned. By then, even though the caretaker's husband, who owns a three-wheeler, tried to rush the drowned child to the hospital, the child had already passed away.

The suspect woman stated that she had cleaned all four children and left them in the corridor of the daycare center. She then went to the nearby bathroom and returned a short while later to find one child missing. She then searched for the child. During this search, she saw the missing child had fallen into the pond located within the premises of the daycare center and preschool. She immediately pulled the child out, informed her husband, who is a school teacher, and they took the child to the hospital in their three-wheeler. Police said that doctors examined the child and informed them that the child had passed away.

Regarding the death of this child, a woman who operates as the caretaker of the daycare center and preschool was arrested by the police on suspicion last night (9). An officer from the Embilipitiya Headquarters Police stated that the owner of this daycare center and preschool was arrested on suspicion under the charge of acting negligently and causing the death of a child.

The lesson learned from this incident is that caretakers of daycare centers and preschool teachers should constantly be vigilant over the children under their care. Further investigations into this matter are being conducted under the leadership of Embilipitiya Headquarters Police Station OIC Chief Police Inspector S.K.C.S. Dayawansa, acting on the instructions of Ratnapura District Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mrs. Renuka Jayasundara.

The woman arrested on suspicion is a 37-year-old mother of four children. Three of this suspect woman's female children are twins. The mother of the deceased child works at a garment factory in the same area, while the father earns a living through farming and casual labor, and they have another child. The deceased child has been identified as A.J. Eyon Heesara, who resided in the same area.

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