Three persons died and two others were injured as a result of a fatal accident that took place on the Kandy-Jaffna main A9 Road at the Panichchankulam area in Mankulam on Tuesday (25) night.
A lorry had crashed into the rear of a transport bus travelling from Jaffna to Colombo with passengers on board which had been parked on the road due to a technical issue. The lorry has crashed into the parked bus and has then run over the driver of the bus and a few passengers who were trying to fix the technical issue of the bus, Police said.
The driver of the bus and two passengers who were fatally wounded succumbed upon admission to the Mankulam Hospital and the lorry driver and another passenger who were injured had been admitted to the Kilinochchi hospital for treatment.
The deceased bus driver is a 39-year-old resident of Jaffna and the other two passengers who died from the accident are yet to be identified.The bodies of the deceased are kept at the mortuary of the Mankulam hospital. The lorry driver has been taken into custody over the accident and preliminary Police investigations have revealed that the cause of the accident was due to losing control of the speeding lorry.
The Mankulam Police is conducting further investigations into the incident.
Varuna Dayaratne
