News
Trip that began in fun and laughter ended in wipeout of family
- Avurudu tragedy inquiry focuses on young novice driver
- 70 killed in road accidents during the festive season
Renilton Joseph came home from Oman for Avurudu and, in a party mood, summoned his sons and their families to join him for a family celebration – the last for many in that doomed family.
The tragedy began when Mr. Joseph, 56, returned home on April 15 to celebrate the New Year after working at Oman. He had called his sons and their wives and suggested they meet at Ja-Ela at his daughter’s house and set off into the hills for a fun-packed short holiday ending back in Batticaloa where most of the family lived.
The following morning, 12 members of the family piled into a van and left Ja-Ela. Their first stop was the popular Pinnawela Elephant orphanage. They travelled on to Kandy and then to Nuwara Eliya where they stayed until late evening before deciding to head back to Batticaloa.
Members of the family took turns to drive. The last was 19-year-old U.D. Prince Hendrick who apparently fell asleep at the wheel, driving the van head-on into a bus near the Mahiyangana National School.
The youth had obtained his driver’s licence only a month ago, police found.
Police identified the dead passengers in the van as Renilton Joseph, Sylvia Joseph, 50, 19-year-old U.D. Prince Hendrick, U.T. Prince Hendrick, 48, Maria Francia Hendrick, 42, Serab Hendrick, Lister Alexander, 32, his wife Nishalin Alexander and four-year-old twins Hanali and Faiga Alexander. All had lived at Dauber Place and Ratnam Place in Batticaloa. Two girls from the family, aged 13 and 16, are seriously injured and in intensive care in Badulla hospital.
Six passengers in the bus sustained minor injuries.
The Officer-In-Charge of Mahiyangana Police, Sub-Inspector Nuwan Ranaweera Wandarland, said the accident had taken place around 1 a.m. on the Bibile-Uraniya Mahiyangana road, about halfway between Nuwara Eliya and Batticaloa.
“Our observations show that the accident had occurred when the van veered towards the bus due to the driver of the vehicle falling asleep, and colliding head-on with the bus,” SI Ranaweera said. “The bus had just started to move after stopping at a cafe 150m away – the bus had just started to pick up speed.” The private bus was heading to Diyatalawa from Trincomalee.
The bus driver, Konara Mudiyanselage Sanjeewa was produced before Mahiyanganaya Magistrate Lakshman Priyantha on the charge of not avoiding an accident and was released on Rs. 200,000 bail. The case will be recalled on September 5.
SI Ranaweera said it was the second fatal accident in his area this month: on April 12, a motorcycle rider veered across the single road divider line, hit a bus and was killed.
The family tragedy at Mahiyangana was among 50 fatal accidents between April 11-17 that claimed more than 70 lives.
Another fatal accident occurred on Wednesday in Wellawaya when a two-year-old child was killed and his parents injured when the three-wheeler they were travelling in toppled over at high speed.
“The Department of Motor Traffic must strictly inspect driving skills before issuing driving licences,” Deputy Inspector-General of Traffic Police, Ajith Rohana, said, questioning whether a 19-year-old should have been driving a van with 12 passengers.
Mahiyangana, incidentally, is one of many police stations in the countryside where police are not equipped with speed guns. There are only some 28 officers at the station.
Police have charged 1,536 people with drink-driving during the Avurudu period (April 11-17) and have taken action on 957 cases of speeding.
Scene of the fatal accident on April 15 that claimed 10 lives. Pix by Palitha Ariyawansa
| 15 lives taken in New Year violence A couple was hacked to death in the Galewela area in the Matale district over a suspected land dispute two days after the New Year in one of several incidents of violence over the holiday period that cost at least 15 lives.Nine people were taken to hospital on April 15 after having acid thrown on them following a brawl that took place at Kamburupitiya, north of Matara. The victims’ van and house were set on fire. Some 75 cases of injury resulting from violence took place in Colombo, slightly down from the 86 cases reported last year. In other incidents, on New Year’s Day, two people in a drunken haze died after tripping and hitting their heads. There were 192 cases of people falling from heights. “Eighty-five per cent of accidents that are recorded at to the National Hospital are preventable accidents that happen due to negligence,” the hospital’s National Coordinator (Training) Accident and Orthopaedic Service, Pushpa Zoysa said. | |