At least 21 passengers killed after bus skids off cliff in Sri Lanka
At least 14 people injured in crash near mountainous Kotmale town
A passenger bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing hill country on Sunday, killing 21 people and injuring at least 14, an official said.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday near the town of Kotmale, about 140km east of the capital Colombo in a mountainous area of central Sri Lanka, police said.
Deputy transport and highways minister Prasanna Gunasena told the media that 21 people died in the accident and 14 others were being treated in hospitals.
Local television showed the bus lying overturned at the bottom of a precipice while workers and others helped remove injured people from the rubble.
The driver was injured and among those admitted to hospital for treatment. At the time of the accident, nearly 50 people were traveling on the bus.
The bus was operated by a state-run company, police said.
Deadly bus accidents are common in Sri Lanka, especially in the mountainous regions, often due to reckless driving and poorly maintained and narrow roads.