News
2 three-wheeler drivers, both 46, die in October 1st tragedies
View(s):A three-wheeler driver succumbed to his injuries at the ICU of the Colombo National Hospital on Wednesday (1), a day after the branch of a large tree crashed on to his vehicle in Kollupitiya, a coroner’s court was told.
The deceased, Sachitra Wickramage, 46, a father of three from Wilegoda, Bandaragama, had been on his way in his three-wheeler to pick up his sister from a class, at around 9.30 pm, when a branch of a Banyan tree, 20 feet long, fell on the vehicle at Bagatale Road, Kollupitiya.
He was immediately rushed to the Colombo National Hospital.
“The three-wheeler was completely damaged. When I went to the hospital my husband could not talk. His head was injured badly,” said his wife Munasinghe Kankanamage Chandralatha, 48, at the inquest.
The postmortem inquiry conducted by Judicial Medial Officer K. K. Joozar concluded it was an accidental death caused by a falling branch of a 50-foot tall Banyan tree, which caused severe damage to the deceased’s skull.
In a separate incident, also on Wednesday, another three-wheeler driver died when his vehicle fell 10 feet in Godawela, Polgahawela. Upasakaralalage Karunathilake, 46, a father of two, was pronounced dead upon admission to hospital.
His wife, Mudeyanselage Priyanthi said before the Coroner’s Court on Thursday (2), that her husband was on a hire when the accident occurred, severely injuring her husband’s head.
Colombo National Hospital’s Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, M. Ashroff Rumi said that death was caused by the three-wheeler falling 10 feet after toppling off the road, fatally injuring its driver.