Floods, landslide kill at least 6 in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, May 4 (Reuters) Heavy rains have triggered flooding and a small landslide along Sri Lanka's coastal belt, killing at least six people, as the island heads into the monsoon season, officials said today.

The dead included a woman who fell through a manhole cover in the capital Colombo and was swept into an underground canal, while two people were killed in a landslide near the southern port town of Galle.

Rains flooded many roads around Colombo yesterday, causing traffic chaos and forcing the Stock Exchange to open late because many traders were struggling to get to work.

''Six people have been killed due to heavy rains and 869 people have been displaced,'' said Sarath Wijeyratne of the National Disaster Management Centre. ''There are reports that three other people have died, but they are not yet confirmed.'' Meteorology Department officials said rains were subsiding, and had not reached the landslide-prone central tea-growing hills.

Monsoon rains are due to arrive later this month and run through to September, typically causing widespread flooding and displacement.

REUTERS SLD PM1110