Sri Lanka has recorded 122 drowning deaths in 2026 so far, with 113 men and nine women among the dead, Police Spokesman F.U. Wootler said on Friday.
Wootler told a media briefing that the 2026 figure follows 595 drowning deaths in 2024 (510 men, 85 women) and 376 in 2025 (309 men, 67 women), bringing the rolling 2024–2026 total to 1,093 lives lost — many of them youths.
He urged parents and elders to stay vigilant during holidays and the Poson festival next week, stressing the importance of supervising children and young people near water.
Poson — marked on the June full moon — draws large crowds to inland water bodies, rural rivers and reservoir tanks as families travel to Anuradhapura, Mihintale and other pilgrim sites. The Police warning follows a string of fatal drowning incidents in recent weeks, including the Galle Face high-tide sweep that killed an 11-year-old on June 11, the Norochcholai Daluwa drowning of three on June 6, and the Talpe teenager swept off Hungama Beach on June 1 during the Vesak weekend.
A national drowning prevention mechanism was floated at the May 8 inter-ministerial meeting, but operational implementation remains thin on the ground. Sri Lanka’s drowning fatality rate has consistently ranked among the highest in South Asia, with WHO-cited figures pointing to weak enforcement of life-jacket and inland-water-craft rules.
Source: Newswire.
