Wilpattu will not be closed to visitors

Uditha Kumrasinghe

COLOMBO: Agriculture, Irrigation and Environment Minister Maitripala Sirisena yesterday said the Government will not close the Wilpattu National Park following the deaths of seven people in an LTTE landmine explosion in the park on Saturday.

The policy of the Government is to continue the normal activities of the park as usual, he said. The Minister said there are so many past experiences in which the Wilpattu National Park was closed due to LTTE attacks during the time of conflict. As a result of these terrorist attacks, the Government had to suffer losses amounting to billions of rupees.

Three LTTE landmines connected together killed seven civilians in the Wilpattu National Park on Saturday. The LTTE had detonated the explosives with the intention of preventing people from entering the area which the LTTE is using for their activities.

This is the first time that a landmine explosion occurred within a national park, killing tourists.