News

Eight feared dead in Wilpattu Park blast
By Chris Kamalendran
Seven local visitors and a wildlife guard were feared killed when their vehicle was hit by an explosion yesterday inside the Wilpattu National Park, Wildlife Chief Dayananda Kariyawasam said.

The locals had come to the park on Friday and booked the circuit bungalow at Kokmote for two days. They had set off on a sightseeing tour around 9 am. yesterday. The explosion, believed to be triggered by a landmine, reportedly occurred shortly thereafter.

He said eyewitnesses had reported that the explosion occurred around 10 a.m. some 50 kilometres from the main gate of the park. However, he said details were still scanty and a clear picture of what took place would emerge only today.

The family caught in the explosion are from Rosmead Place, Colombo-7. Neighbours identified them as Pereras. Officials had visited the home of the victims last evening and informed the neighbours that the tour party had gone sightseeing and failed to return to the bungalow by evening.

However, they had not given details of what had happened to them.
The tour party included some people who had arrived on holiday to Sri Lanka. They had left the bungalow in two separate vehicles, a pick-up and a Prado jeep. But mid way into the journey, they had parked the pick-up and all boarded the ill-fated vehicle.

Of the nine persons who travelled from Colombo, two had stayed back at the bungalow. When they were informed about the blast, they also ventured into the park and the whereabouts of them were also not known, Mr. Kariyawsam said.

Nochiyagama Police told The Sunday Times a team had been sent to investigate the blast but had returned as they could not locate the site. Wildlife officials also had not gone into the area, fearing LTTE presence.
Mr. Kariyawasam said he had sought the assistance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to accompany wildlife officials to visit the scene.
SLMM spokesperson Helen Olofsdottir said that although they had been informed of the incident they were not sure whether they would visit the site today.

All four circuit bungalows at the park were full during the weekend with nearly 40 guests occupying them. Several parts of the park are known to be infiltrated by the LTTE as it borders areas of Mannar.

The park was opened to the public in 2003 after the cessation of hostilities between the Government and the LTTE but certain areas of the park are still considered unsafe for visitors.