Three children aged between 12 and 18 have been reported missing while bathing in the sea area off Kalametiya, Hungama, on Saturday afternoon, Sri Lanka Police said. Search and rescue operations are underway.
The children had been with their parents at the time of the incident, Ada Derana reported, citing police. The disappearance was first reported shortly after 6:00 p.m. on May 30, the Vesak full-moon public holiday, when families typically travel to coastal and inland recreational sites. Newswire carried matching details in the early evening.
Kalametiya is a coastal village in the Hambantota District best known for the adjoining bird sanctuary and a stretch of open beach exposed to direct Indian Ocean swell. No further details on the children’s identities, the rescue assets deployed or any preliminary cause have been released.
The incident comes against a backdrop of repeated drowning tragedies during long-weekend and festival periods this year, including a teacher drowning off Kirinda after a Met Department wave advisory in May, two brothers who drowned in a Kekirawa quarry, and three youths killed at the Victoria Reservoir. The Disaster Management Centre had earlier announced a national drowning-prevention mechanism in response to the rising incident count.
Update — 31 May: The bodies of all three students were recovered from the sea off Kalametiya on Sunday morning, Ada Derana and Newswire reported, citing police. Personnel from the Police Lifesaving Unit in Tangalle, the Sri Lanka Navy and local residents conducted the recovery operation. The 12-year-old and 18-year-old were located first; the 17-year-old’s body was the last to be found, Ada Derana reported. All three children were residents of the Hungama area.
The three victims were identified by The Island on Monday as WG Pasindu Heshan, 18, in Grade 13; RP Ashan Dulanjana, 17, in Grade 12; and RP Thushan Dilusha, 12, in Grade 7 — all students of Vijayaba National College, Hungama. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, The Island said.
Sources: Ada Derana — initial report · Newswire — initial report · Newswire — all three bodies recovered · Ada Derana — two confirmed dead · Ada Derana — all three recovered · Island — bodies of schoolchildren drowned in sea recovered.
