Sri Lanka is to launch an investigation over the failure to issue a warning for bad weather last Friday which resulted in 18 dead and 43 others missing, the Disaster Management Center said on Sunday.

The local meteorology department had not issued a storm warning for Friday and as a result the public, especially in the south of the country were caught unaware when strong winds and heavy rain lashed the area.

"The local meteorology department had seemingly ignored a bad weather warning issued by the Indian authorities," a spokesman at the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Center told Xinhua.

Meanwhile the navy and air force continued a search operation on Sunday for 40 fishermen who were reported missing since Friday after they went out to sea from the southern coastal towns of Galle and Matara.

The number of missing fishermen was at 30 on Saturday but by Sunday morning the figure had risen to 40 while 3 others were also missing in various other weather related incidents, Assistant Director of the Disaster Management Center Pradeep Kodipilli said.

With still no sign of the missing people Kodipilli said there are fears the death toll may rise over the course of the week.

Over 1,000 houses and other buildings were damaged, trees were uprooted, power was cut off and some vehicles were also damaged from the bad weather.

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