Bus and tipper driver arrested over Passara accident

By Prasanna Pathmasiri 

Preliminary investigations of the bus accident at the 13th km Post on Lunugala –Colombo road on Saturday (20) has revealed that it was due to the negligence to remove the huge boulder obstructing the road for more than six months and the driver’s failure to control the bus. 

The accident claimed 14 lives and caused serious injuries to 36 others including five children and the driver of the bus. The Colombo bound private passenger bus that left Lunugala at 6.30 am was full to its capacity when passing Passara Town. 

The bus that attempted to avoid a head-on collision with a tipper lorry from the opposite direction had veered off the weak verge of the road and gone down more than 250ft deep precipice. 
A crowd of more than 1,000 people that gathered helped the police and the army to evacuate the passengers trapped in the wreckage of the bus. 
Governor Uva Province M. J. M. Muzammil and Parliamentarian Chamara Ratnayaka who visited the Passara hospital looked into the facilities to provide immediate treatment to the injured and to transfer those in critical condition to Badulla General Hospital.  The bodies of the dead passengers were PCR tested to find that none of them were COVID positive. JMO Badulla General Hospital Dr.Ruchira Nadeera performed the postmortem examination after Badulla Actg. Magistrate Sujeewana Silva visited the hospital and held the preliminary magisterial inquiry. 

Police arrested the driver of the tipper who had run away from the scene of the accident and the driver of the bus was also arrested. Both were produced before the Badulla Actg. Magistrate Sujeewana Silva on 21st afternoon and were remanded till the 25th.

OIC Passara Police CI Palitha Seneviratne, CI H.J.Priyantha Chaminda and SI Ishara are conducting further investigations on the instructions of SSP Wasantha Kandewatta. 

• The accident had claimed 14 lives and caused serious injuries to 36 others