President gets weather report

The Commission of Inquiry (COI) appointed to investigate the recent disaster following the extreme weather, handed over its report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa today.
The Committee, headed by Dr. A.W. Mohottala,?recorded statements regarding the incident from the Director General of the Met Department, Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries, officials of Sri Lanka Telecom, members of fishing societies, media institutions and officials of the Disaster Management Center.
Over 55 people, mostly fishermen were killed after they went out to sea early last month not knowing there was a storm coming their way.
The department of meteorology was blamed for failing to issue a weather alert which could have saved so many lives.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had later directed Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga to take the necessary steps to appoint a Committee of Inquiry to examine the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the fishermen and the reasons as to why affected people were not informed of the impending severe weather conditions in order to be able to take precautionary measures. (Colombo Gazette)