More than 300 soldiers have been deployed to search for survivors in the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elagipitya in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometers north of Colombo, the capital, Jayaweera said.
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In neighbouring Bulathkohupitiya, five more bodies were recovered, taking the toll in the area to ten, while six people remain missing, said Ranasinghe.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena visited Aranayake on Wednesday to meet the victims and promised full support from the government.
“The task is to figure out what happened to them”, the Red Cross announced in a statement, noting that some people may have left after local officials warned of landslides earlier this week.
“On behalf of the government and people of the People’s Republic of China, I wish to extend my deepest condolence to the government and people of Sri Lanka on the tragic loss of life and property following the heavy rains that led to severe flooding and landslides around the island”.
The military pulled three bodies from rubble at the site of the second landslide that buried 16 people, Ranasinghe said.
The meteorological department said the heavy rains were caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal.
“We have issued more landslide warnings and have asked residents in vulnerable areas to be vigilant”, said spokesman Pradeep Kodippili.
“My son’s house has simply disappeared”, Piyawathi, whose uses one name, told AFP at the Viyan Eliya temple where she and around 350 others sought refuge before the landslide hit. Schools were closed due to the bad weather.
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Mudslides are common during the monsoon season. Since Monday, 43 people have died from lightning strikes, floods, falling trees and landslides nationwide, including the 18 confirmed deaths in the Kegalle district, according to the Disaster Management Center. Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.
