Two brothers drowned on Sunday afternoon while swimming in an abandoned quarry in Samagigama, Kekirawa, police said.
The victims, aged 39 and 41, were residents of Haputale who had travelled to Kekirawa for construction work at a school in the area. According to Ada Derana, the two men were part of a five-person group who had gone to the quarry to bathe.
Three of the group returned after swimming, while the two brothers remained at the site and later drowned. The Kekirawa Police are conducting further investigations into the circumstances of the deaths.
Abandoned quarries — many filled with deep, still water and unmarked drop-offs — are a recurring hazard across Sri Lanka’s North Central and Uva Provinces, where they are commonly used as informal bathing spots by labourers and travellers passing through. The drowning is the latest in a cluster of warm-season tragedies that have prompted national-level concern.
It comes on the same day three young men drowned at the Victoria Reservoir in Werellagama, Kandy, and follows a string of fatal incidents at inland water bodies in recent weeks. The Disaster Management Centre and the Sri Lanka Police have repeatedly urged the public to avoid swimming in disused quarries, unregulated reservoirs and fast-flowing rivers, and a national drowning prevention mechanism has been under discussion since earlier this month.
