By Prasad Rukmal - Ella
Oct. 16 (Daily Mirror) - A 43-year-old mother of three who was swept away by a sudden surge of water while returning home from work at a vegetable farm was found dead yesterday, trapped against a rock in the Dulgolla Oya in Daragala, Welimada, police said.
The deceased, N. P. Seelawathi, known as ‘Manike’ in her village, was a resident of Thelhawadigama, Medawela, Udukinda.
She had been returning home with four other women after working at a vegetable farm in Medapathana, Silmiyapura, when she was caught in a powerful current while attempting to cross the Silmiyapura Oya on Wednesday afternoon (14).
R. D. Sumithra Jayalath, 54, who witnessed the tragedy, said the women had decided to leave work early because of the gloomy weather, fearing that rising water levels would prevent them from crossing the stream.
“We left home around 6.45 a.m. and worked on uprooting and packing leek seedlings. Manike was the leader of our group. She was the one who gathered us and took us to work,” she said.
The five women left the farm around 3 p.m. Four of them hurried across the stream, while Seelawathi stayed behind briefly to collect their wages.
“She came running towards us with the money, a bag over her shoulder and an umbrella in her hand. It was raining, and we were waiting on the other side,” Sumithra recalled.
Suddenly, the women heard a loud roar and saw a massive surge of muddy water rushing downstream.
“We shouted at the top of our voices, telling Manike not to come into the stream. But she stepped in, and the water caught her and swept her away. She disappeared from sight within two seconds,” she said.
Helpless, the four women raised the alarm, but Seelawathi could not be seen.
Sumithra said they had never witnessed such a powerful current in the stream before, attributing the sudden rise in water to torrential rain in the Nuwara Eliya area.
The search ended with the discovery of Seelawathi’s body the following day, trapped against a rock in the Dulgolla Oya.
Her death has left behind three daughters and a husband who, like her, earned a living through daily wage labour.
“We are deeply saddened by what happened,” Sumithra said.