April 26

This is 26th of April. It is day 116 of the year. As of today, there are 249 days left until the end of the year. If you are curious about the most important and notable historical footprint of Sri Lanka, let us delve into more On This Day events to uncover fascinating tidbits from the nation's history that covers for 365 days.

Today’s Highlight

• 1867 – The first railway train from Colombo arrived in Kandy.
• 1954 – Murugupillai Navaratnasamy became the first person to swim across the Palk Straits, completing the 26-hour, 50-minute swim from Valvettithurai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, to Kodiakkarai (Point Calimere), Tamil Nadu, India.
• 1960 – SLNS Gajabahu, a River-class frigate (formerly HMCS Hallowell, ex-Israeli Misnak, and ex-HMCyS Gajabahu), was commissioned as the Sri Lankan Navy’s former flagship.
• 2019 – National Thowheeth Jama’ath militants, linked to the Islamic State, clashed with Sri Lankan security forces during a raid on a house in Sainthamaruthu, Ampara District, resulting in 3 suicide bombers killing themselves and their 9 family members, while 4 suspects were shot dead by the forces.

International observance

• World Intellectual Property Day