An air force helicopter carrying Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was forced into an emergency landing after the flight crew stumbled into unexpected fog in Wellawaya close to the country’s central province on Friday evening, a senior official said on Saturday.
The American built Bell 412 helicopter had left the commercial capital of Colombo and was heading to the Welimada Town when the incident took place, Air Force Spokesman Dashan Wijeysinghe said.
Welimada is situated an estimated 130 kilometres from Colombo.
He said that the helicopter captain had alerted Colombo on the sudden change of weather and was therefore advised to land in the closest open area.
The chopper later landed safely on a school playground at Wellawaya, Wijeysinghe said.
The President and his aides were later driven by road to their destination without further incident, he added.
In recent days the Indian Ocean Island nation has been experiencing turbulent wet weather in many parts of the country owing to changes in the Bay of Bengal.
