Motorcar falls into Wiyana Canal

The driver had lost control of the vehicle in his attempt to save a cow

A motorcar veered off the road and fell into the Wiyana canal at the 52nd KM post at Welampelle in Mahiyangana and drifted away to a distance of about 500 metres, when the driver was saved by a group of young men with great difficulty.

The driver was a soldier from Beligalla in Dambana and he had lost control of the vehicle in his attempt to save a cow that entered the road all at once.

The three young men who saved the driver from drowning told police that they entered the motorcar drifting down the canal risking their own lives and dragged the driver out. Police said, a protective fence had been erected along the canal bank to prevent such fatal accidents but the motorcar had fallen into the canal where there was no fence.

Police said the driver was taken in for questioning on suspicion of any possible attempt to commit suicide by letting the motorcar fall into the canal.

A police team under OIC Mahiyangana Police CI Chandana Wijesekara is conducting further investigations on the instructions of ASP L. Abeygunasekara.