Ten schoolchildren were injured today (25) when a bus collided with a train at a level crossing in the Koggala area, within the Habaraduwa police division. Police stated that the children have since been admitted to hospitals in Karapitiya and Unawatuna for medical treatment.
The accident occurred when a train, traveling from Beliatta towards Maradana, struck the rear section of the bus carrying the schoolchildren.
The incident took place while the group—accompanied by private tutors and parents—was returning from a visit to the Martin Wickramasinghe Memorial Museum in Koggala, having traveled from the Kottawa area.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that at the time of the accident, there were 14 private tutors, 6 parents, and 41 children on board the bus.
It is reported that the children on the bus were aged 14 and 15. It is reported that the railway crossing where the accident occurred is not equipped with safety gates; instead, it operates solely using electric light signals and an audible warning system.
The bus driver and the conductor have been taken into custody by the Habaraduwa Police.