Baby girl dies in floodwater in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2004, 09:02 GMT]
Two-year-old baby girl M. Mary Kensia Monday about noon drowned in a pothole filled with floodwater in Pommaiveli, a suburb in Jaffna town. Her body was handed over to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital later in the afternoon, medical sources said.

The house of deceased's parents is surrounded with floodwater. The child had seen her toys floating in floodwater and in an attempt to recover the same the child had fallen into the pothole, relatives said.

Meanwhile almost all low-lying areas in the Jaffna district are inundated with floodwater. People fear more rain in the coming days and misery for them to live in huts surrounded by floodwater, civil sources said.

Due continuous torrential rain in Jaffna district all waterholes and drains are filled with floodwater posing risk to children and elderly persons. Majority of residents in areas surrounded by floodwater are unable to find alternate places to stay till rain ceases, the sources said.