The President’s Fund has announced that Rs. 1 million will be granted as compensation to the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic bus accident on the Ella–Wellawaya main road last night (04), the President’s Media Division (PMD) confirmed.
The accident occurred at around 9:00 p.m. near the 24th kilometre post, when a bus carrying employees of the Tangalle Urban Council and their families, returning from a trip, veered off the road. The bus first collided with an oncoming SUV and then struck a metal barrier before plunging nearly 1,000 feet down a precipice.
Fifteen people, including Tangalle Urban Council Secretary T.W.K. Rupasena, 12 council employees, two children, and the bus driver, were killed in the tragedy.
Eighteen others, among them several children, sustained injuries and are currently receiving treatment at the Badulla Teaching Hospital.