Blast at Railway bridge:

Police probe if woman's body had link to explosion

An explosion occurred in the pedestrian section of the Railway bridge across Mahaweli Ganga at Nawayalatenna Katugastota on the Matale line around 11.45 p.m. on Tuesday long after the last train passed the bridge at 8.15 p.m.

No major damage was caused to the bridge. Only some iron railings had got twisted and damaged.

Over two kg of high explosives had been used to cause the explosion, DIG Central Province Kingsley Ekanayake said.

However, train services to and from Matale were temporarily suspended to facilitate investigations, Regional Transport Superintendent C. N. Ranasinghe said.

Police said a body of a female was found in the Mahaweli Ganga about 200 metres away from the scene of the explosion and investigations are trying to ascertain whether it had any link with the explosion. Ranasinghe said a team of Railway Engineers attached to the Bridges Section visited the spot on Wednesday morning and started their own investigations.

Police assisted by the Army and Navy have launched separate investigations. DIG Ekanayake said a Search Operation was also carried out by the Security Forces and police in the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile our Kandy South Group Correspondent S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen said. residents around Polgolla, Katugastota, Mawilmada, Watapuluwa and Madawala were awaken from their sleep when they heard the explosion.

M. Minhaz a resident of Mawilmada employed in Colombo said he was about to retire to bed when he heard this explosion which caused vibration to his premises and even brought down dust collected in the ceiling.

Mawilmada is close to the place of explosion and the railway line runs through Mawilmada to Katugastota via this bridge.

This railway bridge is made of iron and was built by the British rulers over 125 years ago.