Measures have been taken to temporarily ban the use of heavy vehicles on the Radella Shortcut Road in Nuwara Eliya.

The decision comes in the aftermath of a fatal collision that took place in the Radella area on the Hatton-Nuwara Eliya main road last night (20 Jan.), involving a bus, a van and a three-wheeler, killing seven persons and injuring 53 including school children.

Accordingly, Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat Nandana Galaboda explained that the decision was taken in view of the multiple accidents that have taken place along this road.

Multiple casualties were reported after the bus had toppled down a precipice of nearly 100 feet, after it collided with a van and three-wheeler that arrived from the opposite direction.

The bus, which was en route to Colombo, had been transporting a group of students of Thurstan College, Colombo, who were on an educational tour in Nuwara Eliya. 

Reports revealed that 53 passengers – including teachers, parents and 41 students of Grade 11 – were inside the bus at the time of the accident.

Seven people – the driver of the three-wheeler and six others who were travelling in the van – died on the spot. 

Five of the passengers in the van who were identified as family members – two men aged 26 and 27 years, a woman aged 43 years, two girls aged 08 and 12 and a boy aged 19 –  were among the deceased.

A total of 41 students in the bus sustained injuries in the accident, however, it is reported that none of them is in critical condition, the principal of Thurstan College confirmed, speaking to Ada Derana.

Further investigations into the matter are being conducted by the Nanu Oya Police.