WEEK OF TRAGEDY: FIVE YOUNG LIVES LOST IN DROWNING INCIDENTS

ONE CHILD WHO REPORTEDLY HAD NO SWIMMING EXPERIENCE, WAS SENT TO THE DEEP END OF THE POOL

- DARSHANA SANJEEWA BALASURIYA

This week saw a series of tragic incidents in which at least five students lost their lives, most in drowning accidents reported from different parts of the country.

The first incident was reported on Sunday (6) in Dikwella, where a 17-year-old schoolboy, Srihaan Wishmika Sashendra Deshapriya Ilankanadan, drowned while attempting to retrieve a cricket ball that had fallen into his school swimming pool.

According to reports, Srihaan had been playing cricket with classmates when the ball landed in the pool. Despite his friends urging him to leave it, he removed his shirt and jumped in. He struggled after swimming a short distance, and two friends who tried to save him also began to drown. They were rescued by others nearby, but Srihaan died in the incident.