A teacher and a student drowned to death in Nallachchiya Reservoir

A tragic incident was reported yesterday (18th) where a school teacher and a school student drowned and lost their lives while bathing in the main irrigation canal, which carries water from the left bank of the Thambuththegama Nallachchiya Reservoir. The deceased in this accident are a 29-year-old teacher named Dhanushka Udayanga and 

a 19-year-old student named Heshan Dasun, who was studying for his Advanced Level examinations at a well-known school in Anuradhapura. Police investigations have revealed that they were residents of the Bandiwewa and Thimbirigaskadawala areas.

According to the police, the two individuals went to bathe at a ford in the Nallachchiya canal yesterday afternoon after their tuition classes ended. There, they unexpectedly drowned and were swept away by the strong current. A group of people bathing about three hundred meters downstream from that spot first saw one person being carried by the water and pulled him out, and later managed to retrieve the other person as well.

Subsequently, local residents took steps to admit both of them to the Thambuththegama Base Hospital via a private lorry, but hospital sources confirm that both had already passed away by then. It is reported that the body of the deceased teacher has been placed at the Thambuththegama Base Hospital, and the body of the student at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital for post-mortem examinations, and the Thambuththegama Police are conducting further investigations into the incident.

Meanwhile, officers of the Police Life-Saving Unit succeeded in rescuing another person who had drowned while bathing in the Tissawewa in Anuradhapura yesterday afternoon. The person rescued is a 27-year-old youth residing in the Bandarawela area. The police further stated that after providing him with initial treatment at the scene, he was admitted to the Anuradhapura Hospital for further treatment.