Latest news with #BuddhistPilgrims
Arab News
14-05-2025
- Arab News
Sri Lanka to monitor bus drivers with AI after worst crash in decades
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will use artificial intelligence to monitor bus drivers and make seat belts mandatory on public transport, a government minister said on Wednesday, after the country's worst bus crash in two decades killed 23 people. The South Asian nation, which records an average of 3,000 road fatalities annually, has some of the most dangerous roads in the world. Buses are to be equipped with driver monitoring systems from next year, while seat belts will become compulsory on public transport from June, Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told reporters in Colombo. It came after an overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a precipice on Sunday. The changes are aimed at 'educating motorists to develop a better driving culture and improving safety standards,' Rathnayake said. 'We are going to make AI-backed driver observation systems mandatory on all buses from next year, and we will expand them to all long-distance trucks as well.' The minister said the cause of Sunday's crash in the tea-growing mountainous region of Kotmale was still being investigated, but that two more passengers had died, raising the toll to 23. Fifty-four passengers were admitted to hospital, Rathnayake said, adding that preliminary inquiries had found no immediate indication of driver error. Another driver had reported a problem with the bus's steering wheel the day before, but managers said it was attended to. Sunday's crash off a cliffside road was the deadliest recorded in Sri Lanka since April 2005. The state-owned bus was carrying around 77 passengers — about 20 more than its capacity. In March 2021, 13 passengers and the driver of a privately owned bus died when the vehicle crashed into a precipice in Passara, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the site of Sunday's crash.
The National
11-05-2025
- The National
Best photos of May 11: Devotees mark Buddha's birthday in Myanmar to fatal bus crash in Sri Lanka
People gather at the site of a bus accident in the region of Kotmale in Sri Lanka. An overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims crashed into a precipice, killing more than 20 people. AFP
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Horror bus crash kills 21: Overcrowded bus 'carrying Buddhist pilgrims' plummets off cliff in Sri Lanka
An overcrowded passenger bus has skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka, killing 21 people and injuring at least 24 others. The accident - among the deadliest recorded in Sri Lanka for decades - occurred in the early hours of Sunday in a mountainous area near the town of Kotmale, about 86 miles east of the capital Colombo. The state-owned bus was carrying around 70 passengers - about 20 more than its capacity - when the driver lost control and it veered off the road before dawn, police said. 'We are trying to establish whether it was a mechanical failure or if the driver fell asleep at the wheel,' a local police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Deputy Transport Minister Prasanna Gunasena explained at the scene that the injured were rushed to two area hospitals. Reports have claimed the bus was carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims. 'Twenty one have died and we are trying to identify the victims,' Gunasena added. The toll could have been higher, the minister said, if not for local residents helping pull the injured from the mangled wreckage and rushing them to hospital. Images of the disaster showed the bus lying overturned at the bottom of a precipice while workers and others helped remove injured people from the rubble. The roof and side panels of the bus were sheared off, and more than half the seats were ripped from the floor of the vehicle, which landed wheels up into a tea plantation. The driver was injured and among those admitted to hospital. One survivor told a local journalist that he had been in the front section of the bus and was lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries. 'The bus was leaning to the left side and as the driver was negotiating a bend, he lost control and it fell down the precipice,' said the unnamed man. The bus was travelling from the pilgrim town of Kataragama in the island's deep south to the central city of Kurunegala, a distance of about 155 miles. Deadly bus accidents are common in Sri Lanka, especially in the mountainous regions, often due to reckless driving and poorly maintained and narrow roads. Sri Lanka records an average of 3,000 road fatalities annually, making the island's roads among the most dangerous in the world. Sunday's bus accident was one of the worst in Sri Lanka since April 2005, when a driver attempted to beat a train at a level crossing in the town of Polgahawela. The bus driver escaped with minor injuries, but 37 passengers were killed. And in March 2021, 13 passengers and the driver of a privately owned bus died when the vehicle crashed into a precipice in Passara, about 100 kilometres east of the scene of the accident on Sunday. The devastating incident comes after a tourist died when she fell from a train while hanging her head out of the carriage in Sri Lanka. Olga Perminova, 53, was travelling on the legendary Podi Menike rail line when she decided to lean out of an open door in a deadly picture opportunity in February. According to local reports, the woman smashed into a rock and suffered horrific head injuries, after holding onto two rails and hanging her head from the carriage. Also in February, a young British influencer on the 'holiday of a lifetime' in Sri Lanka was one of two guests to suddenly die after reportedly being poisoned by pesticides used to kill bed bugs at the backpackers hostel where they were staying. Ebony McIntosh, 24, from Derby, was just four days into her dream trip to the tropical island when she was rushed to hospital on Saturday along with other guests and treated for vomiting, nausea and breathing difficulties. But within hours of arriving at the hospital, Ebony and another German guest, who had the same symptoms, both died. Reports in Sri Lanka suggested that Ebony and the unnamed German woman may have been poisoned by noxious pesticides intended to treat bed bugs in an adjacent room 72 hours before she collapsed.
Al Bawaba
11-05-2025
- Al Bawaba
Bus crash kills 21 people in Sri Lanka
ALBAWABA - A senior transport official announced that a bus transporting dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a cliff in Sri Lanka today, leaving at least 21 killed and 24 others wounded, AFP reported. According to the government official, the roof and side panels of the vehicle, which was carrying 70 people, were destroyed, and more than half the seats came out of their place. The incident took place on May 11. The bus was heading through the central hilly region of Kotmale before it crashed, police said, adding that the bus should be carrying only 50 people, but it had 70 passengers inside. 11 people have been confirmed dead after a Sri Lanka Transport Board bus veered off the road and fell down a precipice at Gerandi Ella in Ramboda this morning (May 11). The accident occurred on the Nuwara Eliya–Gampola main road. About 25 others were injured and taken to… — MDWLive! SriLanka 🇱🇰 (@MDWLiveSriLanka) May 11, 2025 "We are trying to establish whether it was a mechanical failure or if the driver fell asleep at the wheel," a local police official told AFP. On the other hand, Deputy Transport Minister Prasanna Gunasena visited the scene of the accident and confirmed that the injured people were hospitalized. "Twenty-one have died and we are trying to identify the victims," the Deputy Transport Minister announced in a statement to the media.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
At least 21 die in Sri Lanka after bus carrying pilgrims veers off cliff
At least 21 people have been killed and many others injured when a bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims in central Sri Lanka careened off a cliff, according to authorities. The crash took place early on Sunday in a mountainous area near the town of Kotmale, about 140km (86 miles) east of the capital, Colombo. Deputy Minister of Transport and Highways Prasanna Gunasena, while confirming the number of deaths, told local media that at least 14 others were wounded and being treated in hospitals. Television footage showed the bus overturned at the bottom of a precipice while volunteers helped rescue injured people from the rubble. The vehicle, operated by a state-run bus company, was travelling from the pilgrim town of Kataragama in the south to the central city of Kurunegala, about 250km (155 miles) away.
