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Triple
tragedy in Kandalama
Grieving
family and friends try to come to terms with the untimely
deaths of three youths drowned in Kandalama
By
Dilukshi Thomas
The dusty late morning sun streamed in through the
windows of the Samarasekara home. The musty light illuminated
the grieving faces of Premadasa and Devika, parents of Pramith
Nilanka, an Advanced Level student who died tragically on
Saturday. “Why did God take my precious son away from
me?” cried Devika as she tried to make sense of the pain
of losing her only child.
Pramith aged 19, along with two of his friends, Malinda Wijesinghe
and Isuru Jayasundara, aged 16 and 21 respectively drowned
in an accident while bathing in a lake in Kandalama. The trio
along with various friends and family members, on their way
back to Colombo decided to go for a swim and parked near a
lake in the area. A friend of the family, who had also been
part of the trip, witnessed the entire tragic scene.
“We had just had lunch and the boys wanted to take a
swim so we drove around looking for bathing spots. Once we
approached this particular lake, we weren’t sure whether
it was safe so we hesitated to get in, but the boys saw two
people bathing and rushed out to ask them if it was safe to
swim”.
The friend, who did not wish to be identified, recalled that
the two people who were already swimming told everyone not
to swim further away and to make sure that they stay near
the bank. Little were they to know the fate that was to befall
them, soon after they stepped into the water and began to
swim, they began to go under water one by one and in front
of the stunned audience of relatives and friends, the three
youths met their untimely, unfair deaths. “In the beginning
they were fooling around and pretending to drown. So when
they began to gasp for air, nobody believed that they were
actually drowning and so didn’t make any move to help”
said the friend.
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon and the bodies
of the once boisterous young boys were brought back to Colombo
on Sunday. Premadasa Samarasekara, father of Pramith, although
devastated by the loss of his son, maintains that the fact
that all three families have been experiencing the same torment
has given him some comfort. “It is difficult for me to
imagine a life without my handsome son but knowing that I
am not alone in my grief and that there are others that understand,
eases my woe just a little”. Pramith was an Advanced
Level student at the President’s College in Maharagama
and had aspirations of being chosen to university and completing
his higher studies. His father describes him as an avid student
with a very scholastic mind and said that although he was
very academically gifted he did not neglect sports and other
extra curricular activities. As the day wore on more and more
funeral goers appeared to speak an encouraging word to Premadasa
or try to comfort an uncontrollably sobbing Devika. One such
bystander, a distant relative of the Samarasekara’s who
was also present on that ill fated trip, said that there were
absolutely no sign boards in the area and that the water was
dangerous. “Only after we had pulled the bodies out of
the water did the lifeguards assigned to that area come out
to help. When they discovered what had happened they told
us the area wasn’t safe and asked us why we had gone
to swim there. When I explained that there had been no warning
signs he justified it by saying that the boards have been
removed and kept aside because of the possibility of theft.”
Malinda Wijesinghe was also a student at the President’s
College in Maharagama. However being younger than Pramith,
he was about to do his Ordinary Levels, so was not in Pramith’s
class. He was also an intelligent student and was always at
the top of his grade. His parents were of the opinion that
the entire situation could have been avoided if the people
on the trip had been aware of the impending danger and had
not gone to swim. They claim that although unfortunate this
accident occurred because there were no proper signboards
to inform them of the dangers of the water.
Anoma Jayasundara, the mother of Isuru, was also of the same
opinion. ‘If there had been proper information about
the water or if precautions had been taken to make sure that
swimmers were not allowed in that part of the water, my son
would still be here today”. Isuru was a graduate of the
Dharamapala College in Maharagama and had gained acceptance
into the Naval forces. He was supposed to report to the Naval
office on Monday to begin his recruitment, but sadly that
was to be the day of his funeral. He was also an able sportsman
while at school and his home is a veritable shrine of medals
and trophies; fruits of his hard work and athletic glory.
Police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara noted that death by drowning
was one of the most frequent fatalities in this part of the
world. He reiterated the point by stating that a drowning
occurs at least once every two weeks and that this happens
mostly in areas like Wattala. No matter how many precautions
are prepared and measures taken to prevent such accidents
from happening, for the Samarasekara’s, Wijeysinghe’s
and Jayasundara’s, life will never be the same.
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