Bus skids off a cliff in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO Sri Lanka A voyager bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka s tea-growing hill country on Sunday killing people and injuring others a police spokesman announced The accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday near the town of Kotmale about miles east of Colombo the capital in a mountainous area of central Sri Lanka police mentioned Police spokesman Buddhika Manathunga disclosed people died and another were being treated in hospitals Local television revealed 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 the hospital for rehabilitation At the time of the accident nearly people were traveling on the bus Manathunga mentioned police launched an assessment to ascertain whether the driver s recklessness or a technical fault of the bus caused the accident The bus was operated by a state-run bus company police commented Deadly bus accidents are common in Sri Lanka especially in the mountainous regions often due to reckless driving and poorly maintained and narrow roads