Students grieve over death of school children in the South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2004, 03:08 GMT]
The Trincomalee district branch of the Thamileelam Students Forum Friday issued a statement expressing grief over the tragic deaths of two Sinhalese students who were killed by a passenger bus Wednesday morning in Polgahawela while they were on their way to school, sources said.

Tamils students share the sorrow with their parents and fellow students, the statement added.

Chalani Upadeshika (15) of St Paul's Girls School and Chamika Devangani Ekanayake (11) of Maliyadeva Girls School were the victims of this accident, police said.

According to Kurunagala Police, both students were crossing the road to board the school bus along with a maternal aunt of one of the victims, Sudeepa Kumudhini Rammuthugala (35), when a bus travelling from Kurunagala to Alawwa ran over them.

The bus was in an unroadworthy conditions, witnesses to the accident said.

Ms. Rammuthugala also died in the accident.