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‘Why our sons?’
The recent boat tragedy that snatched away the lives of four youth, has opened up many questions as family members attempt to cope with their grief and anger

By Ayesha Inoon and Nadia Fazulhaq
The tragedy of life that is ended even before it has really begun. The futility of a catastrophe that was born of a harmless jaunt of fun and frolic with friends. The voices of young Navin Costa, Prageeth Fernando, Malinda Fernando and Sadheera Kurukulasuriya, are forever silenced, leaving behind the agonizing heartbreak of those who loved them.

For these four, and their friends, Thasindu Perera, Amal Pathirana, Theekshana Fernando and Tuan de Silva, that Saturday afternoon (October 22) was just another adventure, a time to try out something new and exciting, which turned out to be a boat ride down the Dandugan Oya in Seeduwa. Laughing and singing, as a group of robust boys are wont to do; they chugged along with the strong river currents, unaware of a funeral taking place nearby.

Noticing a coconut tree growing low over the water, the boys ventured closer in their boat, which was loaded far beyond its capacity. One of them clambered onto the tree to pluck the tender coconuts, and it was then that the calamity occurred. The tree trunk gave way and crashed onto the boat, capsizing it and throwing the boys into the icy waters of the river. Four of them were able to make it to shore. The leaden weight of the boat and the lethal clutch of the currents claimed the others’ lives.

“Everyone in the neighbourhood wanted their children to be like my son,” says Navin’s father, his voice cracking with grief. “He was an example to everyone in his behaviour. The others told us he did not want to go on this boat ride and wanted to come home. He had kept telling them that he did not want to go. He never lied to us before about where he was going. We did not know that he was going on this trip.”

His mother’s anguish pours out in a torrent of words. He kept following her around the house that morning, she says, even tagging along with her to the kitchen, where she tried to chase him away so that she could cook in peace. “He tried to feed me a piece of mango,” she sobs, “and I refused, oh I would have eaten it if I had known.” Navin was so excited that he would be turning 18 next month, she says. “He couldn’t wait to get his driving licence, he was crazy about vehicles.

If God had taken him away when he was sick, I would have borne it. He was sick for 8 months when he did his O/Levels, and couldn’t go to school, but still he passed everything. They tell me to make up my mind, to bear this. How can I? I can’t make up my mind to bear it, I can’t.”

Navin never took any alcohol, says his father, angered by reports that the drowned boys had been under the influence of liquor. He adds that his son even hesitated to drink from other glasses at a party, in case there were traces of liquor in them.

The low hum of women chanting prayers is heard at the home of Prageeth Fernando. “He was a good boy, a good student,” his father says quietly, adding again that this was the first time that he had left home without telling them where he was going. Prageeth was involved in social service and was loved by many, friends and relatives, he adds.

The bodies of Malinda and Sadheera have already been taken to their final resting place when we arrive and their homes are empty and desolate, having already said the last farewell to the youngsters.

“These were all good boys, from good families,” says Mr. Pathirana, whose son, Amal, survived the tragedy. He adds that the people of the area had simply stood by and watched the disaster happen without trying to help the boys, who, according to his son, had run around screaming and begging for help to save the others. There were boats there, he says, surely some of the onlookers, could have used them to rescue the boys? Were they angry because the boys were laughing and singing when there was a funeral taking place there? How were they to know about the funeral?

He too refutes reports that the boys had been under the influence of alcohol. The post-mortem revealed nothing, he says, and the surviving boys were probably in shock and fear made them to make unreliable statements at the time.

However, Seeduwa OIC Saman Sigera states that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that some of the boys at least had consumed liquor. A verdict of drowning was returned at the inquest but a check for alcohol levels had not been caried out since there was already enough circumstantial evidence to prove it.

He also adds that these boys were known to be of good character and this may have been the first time they had experimented with alcohol. He feels that it was negligence on the part of the hotel that the boys had gone to, to have issued a single boat to such a large number of boys, without even having provided them with life jackets. This may be a good time, he says, to bring in new laws with regard to safety on boats.

On the muddy banks of the Dandugan Oya, the remains of a charred boat, burned by the angry family and friends of the deceased boys and the broken trunk of a coconut tree, stand as silent reminders of the tragedy.

Was death a fitting punishment for a boyish revel of fun and games? Is it worth playing truant for a day, to lose your life or the life of your friend? Neither questions nor their answers will bring back the young lives that sank to their death on that dark October day.

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