Colombo: A overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims crashed Sunday in a precipice in Sri Lanka, killing 15 and injuring at least 30, the local police announced.
Among the worst road accidents of the country for decades, the state belonging to the State had been traveling through the central hilly region of Kotmale when the driver lost control and he raised a cliff road before dawn, the police said.
He was carrying around 70 passengers – about 20 more than his capacity – said police, adding that a survey was underway.
“We are trying to determine whether it was a mechanical failure or if the driver fell asleep,” said a local police officer AFP by phone.
“Fifteen people died and we sent 30 to the hospital”, who was mostly Buddhists, added the manager who spoke under the cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
The bus was traveling from the city of Pilgrim de Kataragama in the south of the island to the central city of Kurunegala, at a distance of about 250 kilometers (155 miles).
Sri Lanka recorded an average of 3,000 deaths on the road per year, making the most dangerous island roads in the world.
The Sunday bus accident was one of the worst of Sri Lanka since April 2005, when a driver tried to beat a train at a level of level in the city of Polgahawela. The bus driver escaped with minor injuries, but 37 passengers were killed.
In March 2021, 13 passengers and the driver of a private bus died when the vehicle crashed into a precipice in Passara, about 100 kilometers east of the accident scene on Sunday.
