Former umpire and BCCSL official dies in train accident

Fitzroy R.S. de Mel, a highly respected umpire of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) met with an ill-fated train accident which eventually took his life on Wednesday evening.

Initial reports indicate that de Mel who was returning home from work was involved in a heated argument with another person, who is alleged to have pushed him from the Lunawa Railway Station platform when the train had started to move. He was accompanied by his wife at the time of his death.

De Mel (66) was employed as the assignment officer at the BCCSL, having joined the establishment in 1992 after he decided to retire from active umpiring in the mid-eighties.

He donned the white coat for 30 years and during that time, officiated in first-class and representative matches and unoffical Tests.

De Mel was highly respected in his field and played an active role even afterwards being vice president of the Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers Sri Lanka (ACUSSL). He was made a life member of the association in 1994 for his services to cricket and was also a member of the ACU of England.

During his time as an umpire, De Mel was employed in the Survey Department whom he represented at cricket and later, in the Mahaweli Authority. De Mel was also a notable actor in dramas, the most famous of which was in Henry Jayasena's 'Hunuwataye Kathawa'.

His funeral took place on Saturday afternoon at the Anglican Church in Lunawa, Moratuwa.