Announcing the final count of the official death toll following the Koslanda landslide, the government today said that a total of 13 bodies were recovered by military personnel engaged in search operations at the site while another 24 are still missing.
However, the government has taken steps to issue death certificates for the 24 missing victims, Minister of Disaster Management Mahinda Amaraweera said.
Search operations carried out by military personnel at the site of the Koslanda landslide in Meeriyabedda were called off from yesterday (9), following written requests from relatives of the victims.
The government said it plans to erect a memorial with the names of all dead and missing persons from the disaster and announcing the area a sanctuary.
Rescuers managed to recover only 2 bodies from the site on Sunday (9) while over 20 persons were reportedly still unaccounted for.
The tragedy was marked by contradictory claims on figures of people missing. The figure dramatically dropped from initially feared 300 to around 30.
