Four people have reportedly been rescued after being swept away by strong sea waves in two separate incidents along the Marawila beach, while a 21-year-old man remains missing.

The missing youth has been identified as ‘Withanage Shalitha Dhanurdhara Madhushan,’a resident of Kuliyapitiya area, who had qualified for university admission in the Mathematics stream.

He had travelled to the Marawila beach yesterday (12) with a group of seven people from Kuliyapitiya.

According to reports, the group had been standing on a sandbank near an area where rocks had been placed along the beach when a large wave swept the youth into the sea.

Although area residents attempted to rescue him, he had disappeared into the sea by that time.

A young man who went into the sea in an attempt to rescue Madhushan also had narrowly escaped by being swept away.

A special search operation to locate the missing youth commenced today (13), with divers from the Sri Lanka Navy deployed following a request made by the Officer-in-Charge of the Marawila Police Station.

Meanwhile, three women who were swept into the sea in another incident in the same area yesterday were rescued by area residents.

Area residents claim that 21 people have died from drowning at this particular location so far.

They further stated that over the past two months, 15 people who had entered the sea in the Marawila area had been swept away. Four of them had died, while the others were rescued by villagers.

Residents also alleged that warning signs installed by the Marawila Police, urging people to refrain from bathing or entering the sea in the area, have been damaged and removed by visitors.