A container truck overturned near Gonapola Junction on the Horana-Colombo road at about 1.00 a.m. on Saturday, blocking one lane, Moragahahena Police said.
The truck was travelling towards Colombo Port when it went off the road while taking a bend, Ada Derana reported. Police suspect the vehicle was carrying too much speed into the bend. NewsFirst reported that the driver was unable to control the truck’s speed.
Only the driver was in the vehicle at the time, according to Hiru News, which reported that the truck veered off the carriageway and destroyed three flower pots set in the middle of the road before overturning. No injuries were reported by any of the three outlets.
The second in six hours
Hiru News reported that this was the second container lorry accident within six hours in the Moragahahena police division on Route 120 — a detail neither of the other outlets carried. No information was given on the earlier collision.
Route 120 is the Horana-Colombo road, one of the busier commuter corridors into the capital from the south-east. Private bus operators on the route withdrew services in June in a dispute unrelated to road safety.
Where the load came from
The outlets differ on the truck’s origin. Ada Derana said it was travelling from the Horana Export Processing Zone; Hiru News described the consignment as coming from a soft drink manufacturing plant in the Horana industrial zone. Both place the departure point in the same industrial area and the destination at Colombo Port. NewsFirst gave the origin simply as Horana.
Container traffic between the Horana zone and Colombo Port runs through the night to meet vessel cut-off times at the port, which entered the global top 20 container hubs this week on the strength of higher volumes.
Moragahahena Police are investigating.
