Sri Lankan model Chula Padmendra Kumarapathirana, a long-standing figure in the country’s fashion industry, has died at the age of 46.
The Daily Mirror described her as a well-known model and catwalk and pageant trainer, popularly known as ‘Chula’. NewsFirst said she was widely recognised as a prominent figure in Sri Lanka’s fashion and modelling industry and had earned admiration and respect for her contribution to the field over many years.
Her death has been felt across the local fashion community, where she was known as an experienced modelling professional.
Neither outlet reported a cause of death. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of publication.
A note on the name
The two newsrooms render her name differently. NewsFirst gives it as Chula Padmendra Kumarapathirana, as two words; the Daily Mirror writes Chulpadmendra Kumarapathirana as one. Both agree on the shortened form she was known by, ‘Chula’, and on her age. LankaNewz has used the two-word form in the headline and has not established which spelling she used professionally.
Several aggregator sites carried fuller accounts of her career and the circumstances of her death on Monday. Those details — including her training studio, an international pageant award and a description of how she fell ill — have not appeared in reporting by a verified newsroom, and are not repeated here.
