At least 15 people, including eight women and two children, and the vehicle driver, were killed when a bus carrying Tangalle Urban Council employees, and their families, on a trip, plunged down a 1,000-foot precipice, along the Ella–Wellawaya road on Thursday, close to midnight, police said.
Initial police findings suggest the bus had been speeding when the driver lost control. But a survivor told reporters that the driver had complained of brake failure, moments before the crash. “At a bend near the waterfall, he said there were no brakes. At the next bend he repeated it. Then we realized that the brakes had failed,” the survivor recalled, describing how the bus collided with an SUV before veering off the road.
Rescue operations, involving Police, the Army, the Air Force, firefighters and villagers, continued until early Friday. Two individuals, who rushed to pull passengers from the wreckage, were also injured.
The accident claimed the lives of Tangalle UC Secretary T.W.K. Rupasena, 12 Council staff, two children and the driver. Sixteen others were injured, several critically, and admitted to the Badulla Teaching Hospital.The Department of Motor Traffic has launched a special inquiry, with inspectors dispatched to the site. The Sri Lanka Air Force has kept helicopters on standby for emergency evacuations.
By Norman Palihawadane