20 feared dead in landslide in Central Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 11:42 GMT]
Nearly 20 persons are feared dead caught in a landslide Sunday around 7:00 p.m on the double track Gampola highway in Pusselawa area circa 150 km from Colombo from which three dead bodies have been already recovered, the police said. Five vehicles also got trapped in the 100 m stretch along the road in the landslide.



Landslide occurred for the fourth time on Sunday in Hatton town and the up-country train services were affected due to landslide on Hatton-Kotagolla railway tracks disrupting travel from Hatton to Colombo and Kandy.

Traffic blocked due to landslide in Ginigathena and Rambadeniya has now been restored to normalcy, sources said.

Meanwhile, only three feet of water remain to reach the maximum capacity in the Moussekella (in Maskeliya) reservoirs, which may spill over, flooding the areas below, engineers at the dam site warned.