A woman and three children are missing after they were caught while bathing in the sea off the Epamulla coast at Pamunugama, north of Colombo, and search operations were continuing on Monday.
The missing are a 35-year-old woman, two girls aged four and 12, and a 13-year-old boy, Ada Derana reported. Hiru News said all four are residents of the Ja-Ela area and that the incident occurred on Sunday afternoon.
Sri Lanka Navy personnel are conducting search and rescue operations to locate them. Pamunugama Police opened an investigation after receiving information about the incident and are carrying out further inquiries alongside the search, according to Hiru.
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Epamulla lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Negombo lagoon and the sea in the Pamunugama police division, a stretch of open beach in Gampaha District that draws bathers from inland towns such as Ja-Ela. The four are understood to have entered the water together.
Neither outlet reported whether the group was related, whether anyone else in the party was rescued, or what sea conditions were at the time. The Department of Meteorology’s Monday bulletin forecast showers across the Western Province and fairly strong winds in several areas, though no marine warning specific to the Negombo coast had been issued for the day.
No bodies had been recovered at the time of reporting, and police had not said how long the four had been in the water before the alarm was raised.
