A 10-year-old child who went to the shop to buy Tipitip fell into an agricultural well and died.

A ten-year-old boy, residing on Pethiyagoda Road, Angoda, drowned after falling into an unprotected agricultural well while returning home on his bicycle after purchasing a packet of 'Tipi Tip' from a nearby shop. The father of this student, who was studying in Grade 6 at Mulleriyawa Rahula Vidyalaya, works as a security officer at the Kotikawatta Mulleriyawa Pradeshiya Sabha.

For nearly an hour after the child fell into this approximately 20-foot deep agricultural well, no one noticed. Later, a person on the upper floor of a nearby house saw a bicycle overturned near the well. Upon inspection, he observed bubbles rising from the water, a pair of small slippers, and a packet of 'Tipi Tip' floating. Acting quickly, he called two masons who were engaged in construction nearby. They descended into the well using a ladder and brought the child out from the bottom, taking steps to hospitalize him, but by then, the child had already passed away.

The final rites of the deceased child were held yesterday at the Udumulla Public Cemetery, and residents are expressing strong protests against the landowner who maintained this well in a dangerous manner. Villagers state that a woman had fallen into this well before, and since the public has been using paths through the estate for a long time, the landowner had not taken steps to construct a suitable protective fence around such a dangerous location.

Residents pointed out that after the incident, the access roads to the land have been blocked with planks, stating that there is no point in covering it up after everything that needed to happen has already occurred. Those who attended the funeral further emphasized that although it was called an agricultural well, no cultivation activities were taking place there, and maintaining such wells in a way that poses a danger to the public, even on private land, is an illegal act.