Two drown after boat capsizes in Loggal Oya

By Prasad Rukmal and Nishantha Kumara

Colombo, June 30 (Daily Mirror) - A double canoe raft conveying a group of individuals on a picnic capsized in the Loggal Oya, and two of them drowned. The bodies were recovered last morning by Hasalaka Life Guard Unit and the Maduru Oya STF with the help of the Hasalaka Police.

They were on their way back after having a bath near an island in the river when they got into difficulty.

Police said the bodies were recovered from the river bed about two kilometres away from the scene of the accident. The deceased were identified as K.M.M.W.Asanka Indika Bandara (48) from Lewella in Kandy and Chanaka Bandara Ekanayaka (42) of Kondadeniya in Katugastota.

The group from the Katugastota area, including 14 men, 14 women and five children, had been on a visit to Nature Farm at Pidenipitiyia in Loggal Oya in Mahiyangana and during the trip had a bath in Loggal Oya island.

However, when they were sightseeing on the island after a bath, a gale-force wind had broken out, and several of them had boarded the raft and hurried back to the farm.

Police said all of them, excluding the two men who drowned, were wearing life-saving jackets.

A police team under OIC Arawa Police IP Saman Kumara is conducting further investigations on the instructions of ASP Wehitha Deshapriya. ASP K.M.A.K. Bandara and SSP Jagath Rohana.