The knell of the passing waters

“My son used to sit in that chair and watch TV every night after he came home from work. He was always a quiet person and very independent. After I had a stroke and one side of my body became semi-paralyzed he always told me not to go to work and that he would take care of everything. He was the one who paid our rent. He encouraged his sister to study. We never had any problems with him,” said S. Anton chocking back sobs, gesturing at a chair beside the front door that was now occupied by a relative who had come for his son’s funeral.

The father of 26 year old , who drowned while on a company trip in Kithulgala, spoke to Daily Mirror of his harrowing experience just seconds after returning to his bleak home in Alakanda, Wattala after burying his eldest son. In a cruel twist of fate Antany was one of two people who drowned while on a white water rafting expedition as part of a company trip. Now the picture of him happily grinning on his sister’s 21st birthday has been used for his funeral poster, prominently pasted on the gate.

The dingy that he had been white water rafting in had caught in a rope stretched across the Kelaniya River. The “kambaya” was used by the builders of the Kalukohuthanna Bridge for the past eight months to ferry building materials back and forth from the shores. It was usually untied on weekends. However, on this fateful day the rope had been left strung across the way and had caught two people in the boat, trapping them underwater and eventually drowning them.

Having joined the shipping company just six months ago he was on the same trip that claimed the life of Varuni Kannangara also of the same age and the mother of a three year old daughter. A navy diver also joined them in the watery grave plunging the country into sadness over this inexplicable event. This is the first time in the decade long history of white water rafting that people have drowned and adding to the dubious record, a navy diver, who had been called in to recover the body of Antany.

“He left for work as normal on Friday (15 June) morning and we had no idea that he was going on this trip. Then in the evening he gave a call home to tell us that there was a company trip next day to Kithulgala and that he was going. Since they were leaving in the morning he was spending the night at his boss’s home. We had some business to take care of on Saturday so both my wife and I were out.

Antany’s younger brother, Anton Johnson was at home alone. When the accident had happened the people in Kithulgala had called their office in Colombo and informed them of what had happened. Two of Antany’s friends then came to our home and spoke with Anton around eight that night. The moment he heard the news he left for Kithulgala. We returned home tired and realized that neither of our sons were home but since they were in the habit of staying with their friends we did not panic. Around 1.30 am we got a call from Anton giving us details of what had happened,” S. Anton related how they had come to know of their son’s death.

A student of St. Anthony’s Boys School, Antany joined his first shipping company, Worldlink when he was still studying for his Ordinary Level exam. Being an enterprising young man he preferred to step into the job market while most of his friends did their Advanced Levels. This was also due to the strong influence of his father who being a shipping man himself encouraged his son to keep working. After a five year stint Antany used his experience to move into Acrod Express and from their entered his final job on 1 February.

Concerned over his father’s deteriorating health and the burden of two younger siblings Antany was a responsible youth who always put his family first. “He always used to tell me that he would only get married after the sister and brother. He always made his own decisions and we never stood in his way. We were living in Jampettah Street earlier but moved to Wattala four years ago,” Antany’s father explained as being Tamils they felt that Mutwal was not the best in terms of security.

A person who is employed at the same company and who was on the trip speaking to Daily Mirror on conditions of anonymity said that the trip had been long planned and that the initial plan had been to spend the day at Plantation Bungalow further up from the Plantation Hotel. However, as the bus was too large to ascend the hill the organizers had suggested they modify their arrangement and stay at the Hotel.

“They had put white water rafting as an option in the quotation that they had sent us and there was a banner prominently displayed at the reception when we arrived. So since white water rafting was the only thing that is there to do some of them decide to try it out after lunch. When the accident happened it was the boat boy in the second dingy that brought out Varuni’s body. The so called instructor didn’t even come to the police station to record a statement. That was the level of responsibility they had. What we want to emphasize to the public is be wary of unprofessional rafters who don’t use proper equipment and who don’t have properly qualified people working for them. If they really want to go rafting then go with a reputed and trustworthy person who knows what they are doing,” he said adding that the banner was removed after the incident. A fact that was confirmed when we visited the hotel.

Manager of the hotel Priyantha Samaranayake was not available to make a statement despite repeated calls. Nonetheless responding to this claim, Upul Nayanajith who was in charge of the white water rafting in Kithulgala for Action Lanka and routinely liaisons with the hotel to take people on rafting trips urged for a more balanced view.

“I have been working for this company for 8 years and they were in operation for six years before that. Never have there been any deaths. When the raft passes that bridge it capsizes 75% of the time and that is normal. Since the instructor had not seen the rope across the river, his dingy as the first of three turned over and he was swept down river with two others. When the people inside the boat had surfaced they realized that one lady was missing. Then the boy in the second boat united the rope that brought the girl to the surface. When he realized what had happened the guy in the first boat ran to the Plantation Hotel and called me and we sent a vehicle down to take the lady to the hospital. The instructor in the second boat carried the lady to the vehicle.”

the According to Upul it was only after a lapse of over one and a half hours that a person who had been staying back at the hotel had noticed Antany’s absence and alerted the boat people about it. “From that moment on we searched for him,” insisted Upul speaking after giving evidence at the Kithulgala court on Friday (22 June). The headman at the building site had also been summoned for questioning. Statements recorded by them had also been forwarded to the court by the police.

Safty First

“My two and a half year old son has done this stretch of rapids and he loves it. Now every time he comes here for school holidays we wants to go white water rafting,” fondly laughed Channa Perera, the owner of Rafter’s Retreat who was the first person to introduce white water rafting to Kithulgala.

Setting up his white water rafting “joint” in a beautiful ancestral home over a century old, just a few kilometers from where the tragedy occurred Channa is a virtual trench of information on the local white water rafting industry. Being a retired marine engineer he started out the business alone in 1998 using a tractor tube attached to a canvas. Now, nine years later it has grown among five other rafting companies operating in Kithulgala to include regular white water rafters both local and foreign.

“We have never had a death before. It seems like really bad luck because if the rope had not pinned these two people underwater and one had not lost his life jacket none of this would have happened. Mostly the deaths occur due to drunk people going swimming but never white water rafting. Before these two and the navy diver, groups of three people have drowned on four occasions at this very point but never ever while rafting,” he stressed.

“People need to learn to respect the water. After all this is the “Saman god’s adaviya” and there must be some regard for the dangers of the river. I never take people who have been drinking out on the river. For one thing they are not in their right senses and cannot react swiftly in an emergency and the other is that because alcohol speeds up their blood circulation so that they need more oxygen. A somber person can stay underwater for a minute but a drunken person needs air more often,” he continued.

Moving on to the issue of safety Channa maintained that there are “no inflatable lifejackets given. That is only on air planes where storage space is limited. Rafters are given lifejackets padded with rigiform and helmets lined with the same. These lifejackets are the same as those used on ships. That is sufficient protection. Since we have to get Tourist Board approval to get a license the Board rules makes it mandatory for the instructors to be given training in life saving techniques. So I have four of my men trained by the Ports Authority.” Moreover they need approval from the Pradeshya Sabha, to which they have to pay taxes and insurance is another must.

However, on the issue of rafters having to sign a disclaimer beforehand Channa confessed that he does not do it at present unless the thrill seekers wish to skim the “4th and 5th rapids further upriver that are a bit dangerous.” Nonetheless he advocated that even though a casualty is “unlikely” a disclaimer should be signed “to be on the safe side.” White water rafting is not fun unless the water is high and from mid-December to mid-April until the southwest monsoon starts lashing Kithulgala, Channa has the worst drought of customers.

“During a good season a rafting business can bring in between Rs.300 000 - Rs. 400 000 a month. Having said that, it must be remembered that the equipment is pretty expensive. An Avon inflatable raft, which is the best, has to be imported from the UK and that costs around 3500 pounds, each of the paddles cost US$ 25 and we lose many of them in the rapids. I have started to manufacture the lifejackets, helmets and paddles locally as that is much cheaper.”

Business has also been hurt by the lack of tourists but rafting was continuing unabated over the weekend despite the two deaths. White water rafting is never fun unless the water is high and Channa routinely has to turn back dozens of people, which includes large “packs” of 100 or more when the water level is low. The Polpitiya hydro power plant also compounds matters by closing the dam causing water levels to drop.



Seven deaths this year

Putting an official tinge on the incident Kithulgala Police OIC Jayanath Ranasinghe joined the chorus of people who believed that the rope more than anything else was responsible for the deaths.

Revealing that in 2004 and 2005 there had been seven deaths apiece by drowning in Kithulgala, which was significantly reduced to two last year. Further he blamed drunken merry makers who carelessly went swimming in the river rather than rafters, stressing that there had never been any such deaths reported before. These three deaths had brought up the total of deaths in 2007 to six so far.

“White water rafting is an adventure sport and it is understood that people might get slight wounds or bruises but there have never been any serious incidents before. We as the police also do not restrict rafting because we know that raft operators are careful enough not to let drunk people on boats and that they are all issued life jackets and helmets, which is sufficient to keep them safe. When Colombo folk come here they usually go white water rafting first and then party, which is the safe thing to do,” he said.

However, in this case authorities admit that alcohol was an unlikely culprit despite residues of beer being uncovered during the postmortem examination of Varuni Kannangara. Antany Ronirojas’s body was recovered too late for such revelations. Nonetheless OIC Ranasinghe admitted that the thick rope tied across the river was the main reason for the deaths as the boat instructors were unaware of its presence since it was usually untied during weekends. The rain swollen water levels were also about a foot higher than normal and the rope was completely submerged causing the dingy to capsize and trapping Varuni and Antany in the churning water.

“We have never had any complaints about the rope before,” said the OIC pointing at the rope that lay innocently coiled on the floor of the police station beside a tightly locked weapons box. “The headman at the building site told us that the only reason the rope was not untied was because some of the villagers use it to ferry themselves across. As it is useful for both parties they were scared of getting into trouble with the villagers by freeing the rope. Since it was the weekend no one was at the Kalukohuthanna Bridge building site and the rafting man had thought that the rope was untied as usual. Because the water level was high they could not see it either,” he explained.

Caught by the rope the raft tripped over and the police were called in to recover Antany’s body, paving the way for a second tragedy. “The people in this area are excellent swimmers and they can dive to great depths without any equipment. Some of them had looked for the body before the navy divers arrived but they could not find it. Then on Monday (18 June) morning on our request they came to meet me and left the police station around 8.30am.”

The four divers set up their equipment and around 9.15 a.m. started their operations. While two dived another held the lifeline from a boat on the river. “Suddenly we saw the lifeline shaking and the diver in the boat tightened his grip to prevent them from being carried off by the swift tide. One broke free and surfaced, calling out for the lifeline to be loosened because when he pulled away he felt his partner being trapped by the entangling lifeline. When the line was let go the diver floated down and got caught in an eddy. He popped out of the water for a few seconds and that was when we noticed that his tank was missing. Reacting quickly the other divers managed to get to him within four minutes and drag him to shore but he died on the way to hospital,” remarked the OIC.

A bewildering aspect of this incident is how the tank of the diver and the life jacket of Antany managed to get undone. The lifejackets are stuffed with blocks of regiform had held to the body with strong plastic clips that are difficult to unclasp. When a person falls into the water they automatically drag the person to the surface. In the case of Antany, his life jacket had somehow loosened and was recovered separately by the villagers’ days before his body was. Everyone from the police to the rafting instructors and people who had gone rafting before were unable to explain how these two events occurred.

“This is the third time that I have had to call in navy divers,” reminisced OIC Ranasinghe, detailing another incident where three children had drowned just 100m away from the fateful spot that claimed these three lives. Two children who had gone to the river to wash their hands had toppled in and another friend who could not swim, losing his head had leaped in after them. All three had died. In the second episode two kids who had gone bathing while returning from Adams Peak had drowned.

“The Adams Peak season is the worst time for such deaths because people on their way back always make it a point to get drunk and go bathing in the river. They have no respect for the water and cannot grasp the danger. Every year I have warning boards posted all along the river. But every single time they are defaced. If the board says “Be careful their have been 03 people drowned here” they scratch out the 3 and leave the 0. Some businessmen do it as well because it affects their sales. This year I have already made 15 boards to be put up and we will take all possible safety measures,” OIC Ranasinghe assured.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/23/feat/3.asp)