Second British rugby player dies in Sri Lanka

The second British rugby player who was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties, while on a visit to Sri Lanka, has also passed away today (15), police said.   

Two British amateur rugby players who were on a tour in Sri Lanka were hospitalized on May 13 after they had both suffered breathing problems.

One of them, 26-year old Thomas Howard, passed away on Sunday (13) while his teammate Tom Baty, 27, died today while receiving treatment in the ICU of a private hospital in Colombo. 

A team of 22 amateur rugby players from Britain and their manager arrived in the country on May 10 to participate in a friendly match at the CR&FC Grounds on May 12 and had stayed at a hotel in Colombo afterwards.

According to police, the players went to a nightclub after the match and returned to their hotel in the early hours of Sunday.

The two players are said to have complained of breathing difficulties at around 10am.

Howard had passed away at around 12 noon on Sunday. The Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo Dr. Roohul Haq performed the postmortem examination today (15) and revealed that the cause of death was not an injury or an illness.  

Samples of the deceased’s remains are to be sent to the forensic examiner for further tests. 

Both players had travelled to Sri Lanka to tour with one of Durham City Rugby Football Club’s teams called the Clems Pirates.