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Driver’s speed and fatigue took life of Aussie mum and child
A driver who appeared to be too tired to drive and was speeding on the Southern Expressway was allegedly responsible for the death of a young Australian woman and her daughter, police and official investigations have revealed.
Louisa Collins holding her son. Pic courtesy FB
Louise Monica Collins, 37, along with her husband, Patrick, a flying Instructor of a foreign airline based in Doha, were looking forward to a week-long tour of the country with their two children – daughter Poppy, aged four, and son Freddy, aged two.
They landed at 3.30am on Wednesday at the Bandaranaike International Airport and by 4.15am had entered the expressway from Kadawatha, on their way to Tangalle in a luxury van driven by Galappattiarachchige Mahinda Sujith Kumara, a resident of Tangalle. The guests were to be dropped off at the Anantra Peace Haven resort, which they had booked for their holiday over the internet.
By 5am, tragedy struck. The van, travelling at high speed, hit a 20-foot container truck parked on the left-hand side of the road because of a deflated tyre.
The 28-year-old driver of the container vehicle, Tharanga Upasena from Ratnapura, had parked his vehicle with its hazard lights on and was in the process of removing the tyre when the van hit the vehicle. The container was pushed a few feet forwards by the force of the collision before the van toppled over.
“The container driver should have informed the emergency service on the expressway and sought assistance before getting out to remove the tyre on his own. Our team would have reached the area and secured the location,” the Director of Expressway (Operations and Maintainence), S. Opanayaka said.
He said investigations showed that the van had travelled at high speed along its route, and at the time of the accident had been moving at around 120kph.
A review of CCTV footage along the expressway revealed to the authorities that Mr. Kumara, after passing the Kahathuduwa area, had been taking or answering a telephone call on his mobile phone.
Ms. Collins was rushed to the Elpitiya Hospital but was pronounced dead on admission. The father and two children were rushed to the Nagoda hospital with severe injuries where the daughter was pronounced dead on admission.
The father and the son were later rushed to the National Hospital in Colombo and were later admitted to a private hospital.
The postmortem of the daughter was conducted by JMO Dr. S.S. Attanayake and Coroner S.A. Komasru conducted the inquiry. The postmortem of Ms. Collins was held at the Elpitiya hospital on Friday by JMO Dr. Ariyaratna. The bodies have been handed over to a relative of the child’s father who had arrived from Australia.
The container driver had to have his leg amputated, and this was carried out at Karapitiya Hospital.
Police investigations have revealed that the driver of the van had been informed of the hire through the hotel.
Mr. Kumara, who escaped serious injury, was placed in remand custody.
Mr. Opanayaka reminded drivers to be mindful to take adequate rest if they are tired or sleepy. He said motorists using the expressway continually failed to follow rules and ethics.
Mangled remains of the van that was driven at high speed. Pic by Chandrasiri Gunasekera
