The Anuradhapura Additional Magistrate has ordered the Mihintale Police to conduct a comprehensive investigation into yesterday’s fatal bus accident in Rambewa and submit a detailed report to the court.
Additional Magistrate D.L. Samarasinghe also visited the accident site in Rambewa and inspected the three buses involved in the collision, following submissions made by the Mihintale Police through a B-report.
Following the inspection, the Magistrate directed the police to obtain separate investigation reports from the Motor Vehicle Examiner for each of the three buses involved in the accident and submit them to court.
The Additional Magistrate subsequently visited the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital and inspected the bodies of those who died in the accident.
She also instructed the hospital's Consultant Judicial Medical Officer to conduct post-mortem examinations and submit the relevant reports to court. Orders were also issued to release the bodies to their respective families following the post-mortem examinations.
The accident occurred yesterday 10 along the A9 highway in the Rambewa area of Anuradhapura, when two Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses and a private bus collided, leaving four people dead and 71 others injured.
According to police, preliminary investigations have revealed that the accident may have been caused by dangerous and reckless driving by the driver of one of the buses.
The collision reportedly occurred when an SLTB bus travelling from Vavuniya towards Rambewa attempted to overtake a private bus travelling in the same direction, before colliding head-on with another SLTB bus approaching from the opposite direction.
