Four people who went to bathe in the Maha Oya in the Badalgama area have gone missing, police said, Hiru News reported on Saturday.
This is the whole of what has been reported. Hiru gives no further detail.
What is not yet known
No ages, names or home areas have been released for the four, and it has not been stated whether they were together as one group, whether they were local residents or visitors, or at what time of day they entered the water.
Police have not said what the river conditions were, whether a search or recovery operation is under way, or which agencies are involved. It is not reported whether anyone else in the party got out of the water, or who raised the alarm.
Context
Badalgama lies in the Gampaha District. The Maha Oya is one of the larger rivers of Sri Lanka’s north-west, and drownings at bathing spots along inland rivers are a recurring cause of death in the country, particularly among groups of young people at unsupervised stretches.
The report comes on a day when the Department of Meteorology has forecast increased rainfall across the south-west and an amber advisory for severe lightning has been issued across several districts, with river levels being monitored in the Kalu and Kelani basins. No outlet connects the two, and nothing in the Hiru report attributes the incident to river conditions, rainfall or an increase in flow. That connection should not be assumed.
Developing
This is a developing report from a single outlet, and the figure of four missing is the police account as relayed on Saturday. It has not been corroborated by a second newsroom at the time of writing, and both the number and the circumstances may change as search efforts continue. This article will be updated as more is confirmed.
