Only a handful of people know that the British billionaire businessman Hamish Harding, who was a victim of the tragedy of the Titan submersible that gave rise to controversy around the world, is tourist who lost his wallet in Kurunegala 9 years ago. The wallet of this billionaire, who was on a trip to Sri Lanka in 2014 with his eldest son, who was eight years old at the time, went missing near the Muththettugala railway station on the Kurunegala - Dambulla road. At that time, Hamish Harding, who was travelling with his son from Anuradhapura to the Katunayake Airport to return to Britain after completing his tour of Sri Lanka, lost his wallet that night when he had got out of the car near the Muththettugala railway station,to take a break. He realized that after arriving at the airport. It was later reported that there was not much time left for him and his son to board the flight to Britain.
The value of that amount of money, which was in the wallet, was a stock of American dollar notes and other foreign currency notes, which must have been more than Rs.200,000 in Sri Lanka currency at that time. In addition, there have been many credit cards of the type that can be used to transact in any country in the world and several identification cards of the owner. Among them, the most special ID card was the ID card which stated that he was a pilot of an airline called Action Aviation.
This priceless wallet was found by Thilina Bandara Dissanayake, who was 18 years old at the time, when he came to the Muththettugala railway station early the next morning to help his sister get on the train. He was a resident near the railway station. As soon as he picked up the wallet, he had gone immediately to meet his mother’s brother, the then Deputy Principal of Kurunegala North-Western, Royal College. He had handed it over to the deputy principal Samaradiwakara, his uncle, a resident of Gattuwane.
He highly appreciated the honesty of his nephew who was a student. Then, Samaradivakara had examined the wallet and immediately realized its value from the information it revealed. He told his nephew that he should somehow find the owner of this wallet and hand it over. He thought that it would be quite an easy task, since the phone number of the owner was found in the wallet. He had immediately called the phone number. At that time, Hamish Harding had given up all hopes about finding his wallet and boarded the plane to leave for his country.
He was surprised by the phone call from Samaradivakara’s home. He instantly cancelled his flight and came back to Kurunegala with his son, after summoning the Sri Lankan driver who assisted him in his travels while in this country.
Hamish Harding, who came to Samaradivakara’s house, got back his wallet. He checked it and was surprised to find that there was no shortage of money and everything else was in its place. It caused him great happiness and he proceeded to express his gratitude to Thilina who had found the wallet and his uncle. At that moment, he had told them that the pilot’s ID card which he can use to easily travel to any country in the world is more valuable to him than the money that was in there.
Appreciating Thilina’s honesty, Harding had given him Rs. 130,000 after strong persuasion. It was later reported that this billionaire, who spent the whole day with them very happily, also went to visit Kurunegala Athugala. Later that night, he left for Britain on a re-booked flight after informing them that he was ready to help at any time for the good work of Thilina and his uncle Samaradivakara.
Appreciating Thilina’s honesty, this news was reported on the front pages of Sri Lankan newspapers at that time, and a certificate was also awarded to Thilina by the Sri Lanka Tourism Board who helped raise the reputation of Sri Lanka. A few years later, it was reported that he had also met a daughter of Samaradiwakara in London.
Harding, who was an ordinary pilot at the time, had recently become a billionaire businessman by the time he became a victim of the tragedy of the Titan submersible. Thilina while searching for information about the submersible had been surprised to learn that the billionaire Hamish Harding, who lost his life, was the owner of the wallet he had found 9 years ago. He had immediately informed his uncle Samaradiwakara about it.
Samaradivakara has since retired from the teaching profession and is currently working as a planter and a well-known social worker in the Kurunegala district. Thilina who found the billionaire businessman Hamish Harding’s wallet is today a 28-year-old young man. He is working in the telecom company and plans to get married soon.