Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya has extended her condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in Friday’s bus accident in Badulla, which claimed the lives of two students and injured 39 others.
The accident occurred around 7.45 a.m. on the Badulla-Mahiyanganaya main road. The bus was travelling from the Southern Campus of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU). The vehicle overturned near Dunhinda after colliding with an embankment. Among the passengers were two Army personnel, five instructors, and KDU students, en route to a field inspection after staying overnight at the Uva Management Development Institute.
Local residents rushed the injured to the Badulla Teaching Hospital. Head of the hospital’s emergency unit Dr. Palitha Rajapaksha said that six people are currently receiving treatment in the ICU while the others are being treated in the general ward, with several needing urgent surgery. “The medical team is doing everything possible and performing the necessary operations,” Dr. Rajapaksha said.
A Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter was placed on standby at the Diyatalawa Air Force Base to airlift patients to Colombo, if further medical treatment was necessary. The two deceased students were identified as residents of Kurunegala and Nivithigala. According to a preliminary investigation, the accident may have been caused by mechanical failure. Dashboard footage from a nearby vehicle showed that the bus driver had been attempting risky manoeuvres on the narrow stretch of road. The authorities are continuing further investigations to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.
