The body of the second person who jumped into the Mahaweli River when navy personnel apprehended sand racketeers in a raid at Kinniya yesterday, has been recovered a short while ago.
A group of Navy personnel, acting on a tip-off received, had arrived near the Savaru Bridge in Kinniya, Trincomalee yesterday (29) morning to arrest a group of suspects involved in illegal sand mining activities.
The suspects had fled the scene upon the arrival of the Navy personnel, while two of the racketeers had jumped into the river in an attempt to flee from the navymen but had drowned.
This resulted in a tense situation between the residents of the area who had gathered at the location and the navy personnel, who were on the raid.
The body of one of the two suspects was recovered last night while search operations had continued to recover the body of the other drowning victim.
The second body was finally discovered by search teams on the river bank in the area this afternoon.
