Hill country road safety under scrutiny

• Weak barriers and reckless driving claims 15 lives in Ella  
• Several of the injured in critical condition  

By Yohan Perera, Prasad Rukmal and Sumanasiri Gunatilleka   

The safety of the hill country highway network is now in question with another bus accident on the Ella-Wellawaya road claiming the lives of 15 and injuring 18 more on Thursday night.   

The steel barriers installed along the Ella -Wellawaya highway were not strong enough to prevent the ill-fated bus from veering off the road and down the precipice, a senior official from the Ministry of Transport revealed yesterday. 

Damian Weerakkody, Co-Convener of the Road Safety Committee, Ministry of Transport, told the Daily Mirror that one of the key causes of the tragedy was the inadequate strength of the roadside barriers in the central hills.   

“The steel used to construct the fences in Ella was not strong enough, and this may be the case on other roads across the central hill regions as well,” he said.   

Weerakkody also raised concerns regarding the bus involved in the accident, stating that it was not a regular commuter bus but one primarily used for leisure trips.

He said that while a procedure has been introduced requiring both Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) and private buses to submit technical inspection reports before being allowed to operate, compliance has been inconsistent.   

As a long-term solution to enhance road safety, the Ministry has decided to establish transport safety committees at the local level. These committees will conduct safety assessments and submit proposals to improve road infrastructure, particularly in mountainous districts.“We are launching this initiative in Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Galle, and Matara Districts, where many roads run along steep slopes,” Weerakkody said. The committees will include Divisional Secretariat officials, Road Development Authority (RDA) engineers, SLTB depot heads, and representatives from three-wheeler and school van associations. The Ministry plans to evaluate the proposals and implement the most effective ones within set deadlines.   

The private bus, which was transporting a group of employees of the Tangalle Urban Council, along with some of their family members, on a picnic to Nuwara- Eliya is said to have veered off the road, owing to a technical defect.   

The bus had hit a jeep passing by and gone down a 1,000 ft precipice on the Wellawaya main highway on Thursday night, killing 15 people.   

The death toll in the accident by last morning had been reported as 15, and the injured 18, including three boys and two girls. The injured had been admitted to the Badulla Teaching Hospital.   

Nine women and six men, including the driver of the bus and 12 employees of the U.C. had died in the accident. The Secretary of the U.C. T.K.Rupasena (51) of Ruhunu Vijeyagama, Ambalanthota and the Driver of the bus Chiran Dimantha (27) were among the dead. The police, the army and the Special Task Force (STF) had climbed down the steep precipice with the aid of ropes to rescue the victims and to rush them to the nearby hospitals. They had scaled up the precipice carrying lifeless bodies of victims. It was with great difficulty that the injured trapped in the wreckage were evacuated.   

Senior Medical Officer of the Emergency Treatment Unit Dr. Palitha Rajapakse, and a team of medical officers and nurses rushed to the scene and administered first aid to the injured before being taken to the hospital.   

Sources at the hospitals said several of the injured were in critical condition. Meanwhile, two rescue officers received injuries in their attempt to climb down the precipice and were admitted to hospital. Bandarawela Magistrate Gemunu Chandrasekara and Badulla Actg. Magistrate Sujeeewana Silva held the preliminary magisterial inquiries at Bandarawela and Badulla Hospitals.   

Police said if required, the injured would be flown for further treatment to the national hospitals in Colombo and that an Air Force helicopter was ready for it at Diyathalawa Air Force Base.   

Actg. OIC Ella Police H.P.Palitha is conducting further investigations on the instructions of ASP Ruwan Fernando, SSP A.A.R.P.Amarasinghe, and DIG Laksiri Wijesena.