Update: The fire was extinguished by cutting the diesel pipe - Eyewitness account of the Rambaewa accident

Today, five people died and several others were injured and hospitalized in an accident involving three buses colliding on the A-9 road in the Medawachchiya Rambaewa area. A person who was present at the scene of the accident described the incident, stating that a bus traveling from Akkaraipattu to Jaffna and a bus traveling from Janakapura to Colombo collided head-on.

First, the traffic officers were seated here. As the Akkaraipattu to Jaffna bus was coming directly towards us, the Janakapura bus, the Colombo bus, and a private bus that was coming behind it, as soon as the private bus tried to overtake, the Akkaraipattu bus and the Janakapura bus collided head-on.

Immediately after the collision, the bus coming from behind hit the rear. All three buses were together. There was no way to get out. The middle bus was completely emitting smoke as if it was catching fire. The engine wouldn't turn off, it kept racing. We brought a cutter and cut it. Even after cutting... after cutting the wires, someone said cutting wires wouldn't work, this thing is catching fire. So, they said we need to find and break the diesel pipe.

After that, I told someone to bring an iron rod. But somehow, someone who knew about the bus came and searched and searched, and only after they broke the fuel pipe going to the engine, we were able to get the injured people out from inside. Otherwise, the inside was completely covered in smoke, and we feared it would catch fire. By that time, we had taken out a few people. I think five or six people who died were sent to the hospital. Two were declared dead on the spot, as there was no point in transporting them. In total, about eighty injured people were transported. We were all here, watching with our own eyes. Both buses were speeding. If they hadn't been speeding, there wouldn't have been so much damage. Somehow, the Akkaraipattu-Jaffna bus was the most damaged; seats were dislodged, people hit each other, their teeth broke, limbs broke... those were a lot of injuries. Most of the deaths occurred after the two buses were twisted and damaged in that way.