At least 15 people were killed in Sri Lanka after a passenger bus came off a road and fell into a deep precipice in eastern Sri Lanka.
Officials said 16 others, including five children, were injured in the accident that occurred near the town of Wellawaya on Thursday night.
The mountainous region is about 280km (174 miles) east of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.
Police spokesperson Fredrick Wootler said the passenger bus fell into a roughly 1000-foot precipice.
Police said an initial investigation suggested the bus driver was driving the vehicle at a high speed and lost control. As a result of this, the bus crashed into a jeep and hit the guardrails before it fell off the cliff on the Ella–Wellawaya main road.
Around 30 people are reported to have been on board the bus at the time of the accident.
Locals rushed the injured to the Badulla Teaching Hospital in eastern Sri Lanka. Some 15 patients were receiving treatment on Friday, with several reported to be in critical condition, the local newspaper Daily Mirror reported.
Officials said two individuals who rushed to assist with the rescue operation also sustained injuries and were being treated at the hospital.
Local TV stations aired footage from the scene showing the mangled remains of the passenger bus at the bottom of the cliff with several seats having sprung out of the vehicle, lying on the ground. The roof of the bus appeared to have sustained significant damage.
Rescue crews, soldiers and police officers along with volunteers responded at the site of the accident and helped evacuate the injured throughout the night in difficult conditions.
Deadly bus accidents are common in Sri Lanka, especially in its mountainous regions, often due to reckless driving and poorly maintained and narrow roads.
In May this year, a similar accident where a passenger bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing hill country killed 21 people and injuring at least 14.
That accident occurred in the early hours near the town of Kotmale, about 140km east of the capital Colombo in a mountainous area of central Sri Lanka, police said.
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