Sri Lanka seeks help with humanitarian identification appeal in Italy

Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry is asking for help to establish the identity of a Sri Lankan man in Italy and trace relatives or people who know him. The appeal is a humanitarian identification request, not a police notice accusing him of a crime. The original notice linked from the ministry's public-notices page gives two possible identities and asks people with useful information to contact its Consular Affairs Division.

Two possible records, not two confirmed identities

One record names Gamage Sunil Sarath, born on February 8, 1961 in Maradana, with a recorded address on Nawala Road, Rajagiriya. The other names Kachchakaduge Fernando Noel Vianie Kumara, born on June 28, 1963 in Negombo, associated with Boyawalana. The ministry says the individual may be one of these people. It does not confirm which record is correct, and the two names should not be treated as proof of an alias or wrongdoing.

The notice records the man as unmarried and says he is believed to have lived in Bologna since at least 2009. It places him reportedly in Messina on July 23, 2026 and lists Via San Giorgio in Lipari as his last known residential address as of October 2026. These are dated leads in the notice, not confirmation that he is at any of those places now.

Use the official contact and the original notice date

The original document is dated November 9, 2026. Published reporting reported the appeal on November 11, and the published report carried it on November 12. The PDF asks for information within 14 days of the date of the public notice. Its printed November 9 date matters: a later news report should not be read as restarting that period. Anyone responding should check the original notice and contact the ministry promptly rather than rely on a deadline inferred from a news publication date.

Information can be given to the Consular Affairs Division on +94 11 227 5525 or at consular@mfa.gov.lk. The notice gives the division's address as the 16th floor of Suhurupaya, Battaramulla. It says information received will be treated in strict confidence. That is the ministry's assurance, not a guarantee made by this publication. Information about relatives or identification should go to that official contact, not to public comment threads or to this news site.

The ministry's notice includes a photograph for identification. Readers should consult that original document rather than identify someone from this article's image: the picture here is a licensed general view of Bologna, not the man, his home or a confirmed location in this case. The available notice does not establish a death, an arrest or a confirmed present location.

Original ministry notice: PDF