Two killed, 11 injured in two accidents

Two persons were killed and eleven injured in two separate road accidents on Saturday on the Anuradhapura and Payagala, Police said.

A man and his son were killed and the mother of the same family was seriously injured at Sippukulama at Anuradhapura on the Trincomalee Road on Saturday evening, when the motorcycle they were riding veered off the road and knocked against to an electric post, the Mihintale Police said.

The deceased have been identified as Prasad Lanka Tilakaratne (41) and Nadik Olitha Tilakaratna (8) of Parangiyawadiya in Horowpothana.

They had pronounced dead on admission to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital. The boy is said to be the only son the couple had.

Deepika Udayangani, the mother was currently being treated at Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital and her condition was also serious, accordingly to hospital sources.

First, the trio had been taken by the residents of the area to nearby Tammennawa Rural Hospital but the staff at the hospital had refused to admit them due to the absence of doctors, sources said. The hospital staff had advised those who took the patients to take them to the other Hospital.

The Police said they suspected either the father who rode the motorcycle might have fallen asleep or failed to control the motorcycle.

Those who took the patients to the hospitals said that at least one of the deceased could have been saved had there been a doctor at the Tammennawa Hospital where the accident victims were first taken to.

The Mihintale Police are conducting investigations.

Meanwhile, the Payagala Police said that nine passengers had been seriously injured when their van collided with a bus at Maggona on Galle.

The injured were admitted to Nagoda Hospital in Kalutara and National Hospital in Colombo.

They were returning after participating at a wedding in Maggona.