Negligence by the van driver was the key reason for last Wednesday’s incident where the vehicle exploded killing four persons and injuring seven in Hadapangoda in the Kalutara district, a senior police officer said.
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| All that remained of the charred vehicle |
He said the van had stalled on several occasions before the fatal accident occurred and the van driver had poured petrol manually to start it. “As a result petrol had spilled on to the outer part of the engine,” he added.
In addition, the driver had used a rubber or polythene tube from the engine petrol pump to a can of petrol can placed behind the driver’s seat as the petrol tank was defective and could not be used. The engine caught fire with the flames spreading very fast, he said.
Lasantha Deepal, a resident of Handapangoda was to attend a funeral in Beruwala on the evening of January 25 (Wednesday). In addition to his sister’s family his parents had also joined him.
It was almost midnight when they started heading home via the Panadura-Horana road. Lasanthas’s two kids and his sister’s three little ones were sleeping in the van as they had had a tiring day.
The van had stalled in several places, but the driver managed to proceed after restarting it.
They passed the Kottawa-Galle expressway and came to the Diyagama area. It was just one hour after the beginning of a new day. Suddenly Lasantha knew something was wrong. He saw flames before his eyes. He didn’t have a second to think as the whole van caught fire and burnt like a piece of paper.
By the time villagers in the area rushed to the scene, four people had been burnt to death. Seven others were taken to the hospital. Hospital sources said that all of them were severely burnt and were in a critical condition. Lasantha’s mother, D. Kusumalatha (56), her daughter Thilangani Deepashika (35) and Lasantha’s two children were among those who were burnt to death in the sudden fire.
Further investigations are being conducted by the Kalutara North Police. |
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