Children among the dead and missing as heavy rains trigger floods in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Three children returning from school are among at least five people who have died as heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, authorities said Wednesday. Five others are missing.

Sri Lanka has experienced heavy downpours and strong winds over the past two days that have flooded homes, fields and roads and forced authorities to suspend train services in tea-growing mountain areas.

In the worst incident, eight people, including six children who were returning from school, were reported missing Tuesday evening when the farm tractor they were traveling on was swept away by floods in the eastern region of the country, police said.

The bodies of three children were recovered on Wednesday. Eleven children had travelled on the tractor at the time of the accident and five were initially rescued. Another three students and two adults, including the driver, remain unaccounted for.

Local television channel Derana showed navy and army troops assisted by air force helicopters searching for the missing persons.

Separately, a woman died when a brick wall collapsed on her in the mountainous region of Badulla in the central part of the country, while another person died in floods.

Eight people were injured in various other weather-related incidents, the Disaster Management Center said.

As of Wednesday, over 5,000 people had been evacuated and nearly 800 homes had been damaged.

The Meteorology Department attributed the severe weather to a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal which is likely to move closer to Sri Lanka and intensify into a cyclonic storm on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with severe weather since May, mostly caused by heavy monsoon rains. In June, 16 people died due to floods and mudslides.