NEED TO KNOW
- A bus veered off of a cliff and plunged into a ravine in Sri Lanka on May 11, killing 21 people and injuring 35 others
- The accident occurred near the village of Kotmale
- Sri Lankan authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, and the dead have not yet been publicly identified
After a bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka, 21 people are dead and 35 more are injured.
In the early hours of Sunday, May 11, a passenger bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine near Kotmale, a village in a mountainous region of south-central Sri Lanka, according to an initial report from police.
Initially, Sri Lankan authorities reported that 8 people — five men and three women — had died, and over 30 people, including the bus driver, were injured and taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. At the time, police said the identities of the deceased had not yet been confirmed.
A police spokesperson later shared an updated death toll with Associated Press, revealing that the death toll had nearly tripled.
According to police spokesman Buddhika Manathunga, 21 people died and 35 were injured in the bus accident, the AP reported.
The vehicle was owned by a state-run bus company and traveling from the town of Kataragama to the city of Kurunegala, police said.
As the injured continue to receive treatment, police are investigating to determine the cause of the accident, as it is not immediately clear whether a technical issue, the driver or something else led to the fatal accident, the AP reported.
Sri Lanka Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, May 11.
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According to the AP, local television coverage of the accident showed the bus lying overturned in the ravine as people worked to remove injured passengers from the site.
Photos of the aftermath of the accident, meanwhile, show the roof of the bus separated from the rest of the vehicle, which rests at a diagonal on the side of a hill, per the AP. Several seats on the bus appear to have detached from the bus, whose contents strewn about the ravine where it landed. Onlookers, including children, looked on at the damage and debris, the photos show.
Fatal bus accidents, the AP reported, are not uncommon in Sri Lanka, especially mountainous areas like the site of the May 11 accident.
Poorly maintained and narrow paths are often the cause of such incidents, as well as reckless driving, the outlet noted.
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