BY P. Waravita   The Domestic Workers’ Union (DWU) yesterday (24) raised concerns about the death of an underage girl who had been working as a domestic worker in the Gampaha District last week. The Morning learnt that the girl in question, suspected to be about 17 years of age, had been employed as a domestic worker at a house in Gampaha. It is learnt that closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage shows that she had drowned in the residence’s swimming pool after she had stepped into the pool, fully clothed, when she had been alone at home. The Judicial Medical Officer’s report on the death of the girl had confirmed that she had died by drowning. The girl was from Maskeliya. Multiple attempts by The Morning to contact Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police, and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa regarding the matter yesterday, proved futile. “Before the memories of the death of a girl who was employed as a domestic worker, last year faded away, everyone was shocked to hear about the death of another girl from the Maskeliya area. The Government should take the responsibility for this type of continuously reported deaths,” said the DWU in a statement issued regarding the matter yesterday. The DWU said that even though they have continuously tried to bring laws to regulate the domestic work sector over the past 10 years, every Government that was in power neglected to pay heed to their request and that due to this, “these types of deaths are continuously occurring”. Last year, the Police stated that investigations revealed that a girl was brought to the house of Parliamentarian Rishad Bathiudeen in October 2020, as a domestic worker, when she was 15 years and 11 months old. The girl, who had been admitted to Ward 72 of the National Hospital of Colombo on 3 July 2021 with burn injuries, had died on 15 July 2021 while receiving treatment, the Borella Police said. Following this death, the Department of Labour announced that it will be amending the Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act, No. 47 of 1956 in order to make the employment of any person below the age of 18 years in domestic service a punishable offence. In January 2021, the minimum age of employment in the country was increased from 14 years of age to 16 years of age.