Chinese worker missing for a week found from forest reserve

A 33-year-old Chinese national who had been missing for a week has been found from the Dandeniya Forest Reserve. 

He was found from inside a hole he had fallen into inside the forest reserve on Saturday (19). 

Police said the victim had been working on the Matara to Hambantota stretch of the Southern Expressway. He had entered the forest reserve, which is spread over 417 acres, along with two other Chinese nationals on May 12, which happened to be his first day at work on the project. 

The victim had been reported missing that night and a search operation conducted by police and the army failed to locate him. Searchers however, were able to locate the victim's mobile phone, shirt and shoes from within the reserve. 

He was finally found on Saturday by two children who had been clearing a piece of land on the reserve's border with their father. The children had heard someone moaning nearby and upon looking for the cause, had stumbled on the Chinese national who was inside a hole. They had promptly given water to the man before informing the 119 emergency hotline. The information had then been conveyed to the Thihagoda Police and a team of officers, together with a group of area residents, had trekked four kilometres into the forest and transported the victim on their backs out of the reserve, and into a waiting ambulance. The victim had thereafter been taken to the Matara Hospital. 

A hospital spokesman said the victim was in a critical condition when he was admitted as he had been without food or water for seven days. However, his condition is steadily improving and he is responding well to treatment, he added. 

The Chinese company involved in the expressway project had also pasted posters throughout the area seeking information on his whereabouts and had offered a reward of Rs.100, 000 for anyone who found him. It is expected that the reward will now be awarded to those who helped locate the Chinese national. 

By Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk and Sujeewa Samarakkodi

 

 

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