Luxury bus accident, one dead

Welipenna Police said that a small girl and a woman was injured while they were walking along the road when a super luxury bus carrying 22 passengers toppled in the Lewwanduwa area in Mathugama-aluthgama Road on the 23rd. One passenger died and the others in the bus were admitted to hospital.

The deceased was identified as D. Niroshan Udayanga

De Silva (47) of No:

575 B, Galle Road Welikanda, ahungalla.

This accident has occurred in the Welipenna area while the bus was travelling towards Galle on the Southern Expressway via Welipenna entrance after returning from a hotel in Kukuleganga on 23rd morning. Staff of a leading tourist hotel in Galle had gone on a picnic in two luxury buses.

One of the buses has fallen in front of a house and collided with an electricity post and a wall after knocking down a small girl aged five and a woman walking along the road. This accident has occurred since the driver was unable to control the speed of the bus.

All the injured persons were rushed to the hospital with the help of the residents of the area.

The Police Officers of Welipenna Police made arrangements to remove the bus from the place where accident was occurred by using a backhoe of a private owner and the backhoe of Mathugama Pradeshiya Sabha with the intervention of the Chairman, Meril Munasinghe.

One woman and eight males are receiving treatment in the Incentive Care Unit of the hospital and the other passengers are receiving treatment at the Nagoda Hospital and one of the passengers died due to this accident. The driver of the bus was scheduled to be produced in courts and according to the medical report the driver was under the influence of liquor, police said.

Further investigations are conducted by OIC of Traffic Branch SI Jayantha Gunawardena on the instructions of OIC of Welipenna Police IP W. K. Gamage.