Pressure mine explosion kills three

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 June 2004, 10:14 GMT]
Amarasinghe Dayaratne (47), Sellthurai Suresh (27) and Ambrose Alex (32) were killed instantly Friday when the vehicle they were travelling hit a pressure mine in First mile post along Puthukudiyiruppu road in Kilinochchi district, Jaffna daily Uthayan reported.

Kilinochchi Tamil Eelam police officers said that the three were returning after inspecting the bulldozer they have deployed for clearing fields half mile inside the main Puthukudiyiruppu road, according to the report.

Dayaratne, a father of two, worked as a contractor operating the Bull-dozer, Suresh is from Urithirapuram and worked for North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) Kilinochchi office, and Alex also was an employee at NECORD, the report added.

The bodies were recovered by the Tamil Eelam police and are being kept in Kilinochchi hospital. The bodies are expected to be taken to their native towns after the investigations are over, the report said.