News
Boat tragedies take heavy toll in northern waters
View(s):At least eight people have died in the northern waters last month in boat accidents.
The latest was the tragedy that ended the lives of six young school students.
On Monday afternoon, seven school students who had just sat for the Advanced Level examinations decided to take a ride to Mandaitheevu jetty to celebrate the birthday of one of them. They hired a theppam, a small paddle raft commonly used for fishing in inland waters.
The students were not used to riding on such boats. Nor were they aware of the condition of the seas surrounding northern islands. They struggled to steer the theppam and it sank nearly two kilometres from shore. Only one was able to swim. He reached the nearest navy post for help. For the sailors, the rescue mission turned into one of recovering bodies. It took two hours to find the body of the student who was to celebrate his birthday.
The victims were identified as Jayashanthan Dhinesh, 17, Naththan Rajeevan, 18, Nagalesan Sinnathampy, 17, of St John’s college, Jaffna, and S Thanusan, 18, T Thanutharan, 20 of Jaffna Central College, as well as B Praveen, 20, of Kokkuvil Hindu college.
The Senior Superintendent of Police for Jaffna, Glaston Stanislaus, told the Sunday Times the police suspect the students had consumed alcohol.
“The students were careless. From our preliminary investigations, we suspect the students were under the influence of alcohol when the accident happened,” SSP Stanislaus said, adding that police found empty alcohol bottles on shore. However, the Judicial Medical Officer at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, who carried out autopsy, held that the students died to drowning. Blood samples have been sent to Colombo to test for alcohol levels.
This was not the first time a boat accident has happened in the northern islands. Exactly a week ago before this tragedy, a boat carrying devotees to a church in Siruththeevu sank. A father of two drowned. Another passenger injured in the boat accident died this week at the Jaffna teaching hospital. She is a student of the Jaffna University.