A 54-year-old woman was killed and 15 other passengers — including a five-year-old child and a 10-month-old infant — were injured early on Monday morning when a van travelling from Polonnaruwa to Dehiattakandiya collided with a wild elephant crossing the main road in the Bandanagala area, the Police said.
Siripura Police, who are investigating the incident, said the van was carrying 16 relatives from Nagasthenna who were returning home after a pilgrimage to Polonnaruwa when the elephant attempted to cross in front of the vehicle. The woman, a resident of Nagamuwa in Dehiattakandiya, succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment.
Ten of the injured were admitted to Dehiattakandiya Hospital while the more critical cases were transferred to Polonnaruwa General Hospital. Police investigations are continuing.
The collision is the latest in a string of road incidents involving wild elephants on dry-zone trunk roads. It comes weeks after a father and daughter were killed in an elephant attack at Wilgamuwa in Matale and an elephant was found dead in a cultivation well at Medawachchiya, and as the Court of Appeal continues to hear petitions on the Department of Wildlife Conservation’s elephant-conflict fence programme. The Cabinet last month also revoked earlier decisions on domesticated elephants amid wider tensions over human-elephant conflict policy.
Sources: Newswire.
