A man has died after falling into a canal swollen with floodwater at Godigamuwa in the Ratnapura area, police say. The fall was recorded by a CCTV camera at a nearby house.
The dead man is Chaturanga Kasun Wanniarachchi, a resident of Mihindugama, Ratnapura, according to police. The fall happened at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Hiru News reported at 8.41 p.m. Colombo time, citing its correspondent for the existence of the camera footage.
Why the canal was full
Ratnapura sits in the Kalu Ganga basin, which has been under active flood watch for several days. The Irrigation Department’s minor flood warning for the Kalu Ganga was extended by a further 24 hours on Wednesday, and the district has been among those carrying landslide warnings through the current spell of rain.
A canal running at flood level through a residential area is a different hazard from a river in spate: the water is fast, opaque and close to houses and footpaths, and the drop is often unmarked.
The Disaster Management Centre’s running tally of people affected by the present weather stood at 10,311 across 21 districts when last reported by this desk.
Not reported
The filing does not give the dead man’s age or occupation, say whether he was recovered alive from the water, or name the hospital. It does not say who recovered the body or whether an inquest has been opened.
It does not describe the canal, say whether the stretch is fenced or signposted, or say what the footage shows beyond the fact of the fall — whether he slipped, was swept in, or lost his footing on a bank. It does not say whether the camera footage has been taken into evidence.
No police officer is named, and no statement from the family is reported.
Single source. This desk checked the Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing and the NewsFirst homepage rail directly; neither carried this death at the time of writing. Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 consecutive days and could not be consulted. The hero image offered for this story was Hiru’s own photograph of the scene, which carries that newsroom’s watermark and shows the deceased in the water; it has not been used.