A devastating bus crash in Sri Lanka’s Badulla District has left at least 15 people dead and 16 others injured, including five children, according to police reports on Friday (Sept. 5). The accident occurred late Thursday night near the hill town of Ella, roughly 280 km east of Colombo, when a passenger bus carrying more than 30 people plunged off a cliff.
Authorities say the passengers, mostly municipal workers from Tangalle on a recreational trip, were traveling at the time of the accident. Preliminary investigations indicate the driver was speeding, lost control of the vehicle, struck another vehicle, and then careened off the cliff. Nine of the dead are women affiliated with the Tangalle Urban Council, while several of the injured remain in critical condition at Badulla Teaching Hospital.
Military personnel, police units, disaster management teams, and local residents mounted a joint rescue operation following the crash. The incident has drawn fresh scrutiny of road safety and driver behavior on Sri Lanka’s mountainous routes, where inadequate infrastructure and reckless driving frequently combine to produce deadly accidents.
