An army truck whose brakes failed struck four motorcycles parked at the roadside and a three-wheeler at Pitipana junction on the High Level Road in Homagama on Tuesday afternoon. No one was hurt.
Homagama Headquarters Police said the brakes of the military truck did not engage, leaving the driver unable to control the vehicle, Hiru News reported late on Tuesday night.
The four motorcycles the truck hit had been parked at the edge of the road. Police confirmed that no one sustained injuries in the collision.
The crash caused heavy traffic congestion along the route, one of the main arteries connecting Colombo with Homagama, Avissawella and the southern interior.
A note on the headline
The source filing is headlined as a “horrific accident,” and its own text does not support that description. The body of the same report states plainly that no person was harmed, and that the vehicles struck were stationary and unoccupied motorcycles at the roadside.
The photograph published with the filing shows the truck upright and apparently intact at a junction, with a traffic officer directing vehicles around it on a wet road surface — consistent with the account of a low-speed collision with parked vehicles rather than with a mass-casualty crash. This desk has followed the body text and the police statement.
Not reported
The filing does not say whether the truck belonged to a particular army unit, whether the driver was a serving soldier, whether any service inquiry or police action is to follow, or what caused the brake failure. It does not state how long the road was obstructed, or give an estimate of the damage to the motorcycles and the three-wheeler.