Number of victims who died ... escalate to 11 -- Update

As a result of the bus -- van tragic road accident that took place in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna last Saturday the aftermath of the accident now records a total of 11 victims. On police investigations conducted it has been revealed that the cause for this accident has been that the driver of the van dozing off. The said accident has happened when the van which was travelling at a terrific speed had abruptly swerved to the

right and had collided head on with the CTB bus which too had been travelling at some speed from the opposite direction. As a consequence of the accident 11 including the driver of the van out of the 12 occupants embraced death while 16 individuals including the driver of the bus had to be admitted to hospital with serious injuries. Initially the wounded and those dead were admitted to Jaffna Hospital and were later airlifted to Colombo.

Among the 7 dead members who were related to each other in the same family were from Milleniya, Madampe area in proximity to Bandaragama -- Horana and are counted among the 11 who had died. Among them was a Nurse attached to the Colombo National Hospital, a Director of the Industrial Development Board, an Ayurvedic doctor, a Physiotherapist attached to the National Hospital and a Computer Engineer. The accident had taken place when they were on their way on a pilgrimage to Nagadeepa during the holidays. Only a female named Erandika Wijeysundera was able to save her life among occupants in this van and still she is in a state of shock.

What Sivalingam Jeswaran, the driver of the CTB bus said was that the van promptly turned towards the lane along which he was driving the bus and that he tried his best to swerve the bus to a side and stop but that he was not successful in preventing the collision. He had fainted instantly after this accident and has said that he was not in a position to recall anything thereafter. Both he and the conductor have suffered injuries in the process. On the other hand the driver of the van had died with one of his arms being dislocated and sustaining serious damage to his head and chest. Because of the collision it was observed that the van had virtually got dipped into the bus and it was a really difficult task to remove those stuck inside. Since several victims who had sustained injuries and had died were those attached to the Colombo National Hospital, members of the staff of that National Hospital had taken steps to get them airlifted to Colombo with their own personal expenditure, it was reported.