Colombo: At least five people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a collision involving three buses in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province on Tuesday, police said.
The accident occurred on the Medawachchiya-Rambewa section of the A9 highway in Anuradhapura district. It involved two buses operated by the state-run Sri Lanka Transport Board and a private bus.
According to police, the two state-owned buses collided head-on before the private bus crashed into the rear of one of them. The injured were taken to hospital for treatment.
Police have launched an investigation into the accident.
Another Fatal Road Accident in Kandy Last Month
The latest crash comes weeks after another major road accident in Sri Lanka. On October 19, at least four people were killed and several others injured in a multi-vehicle collision in the central Kandy district.
Police said the accident occurred when a cement mixer truck collided with several vehicles and pedestrians. Several injured people were admitted to hospital, with two reported to be in critical condition.
Police launched an investigation to determine the cause of that crash.
Sri Lanka Records 1,849 Fatal Road Accidents in 2026
In September, Sri Lankan police identified 712 accident-prone and hazardous locations across the country following a nationwide survey, Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya said.
He said police had compiled information on locations where road accidents occur frequently and shared the data with relevant authorities to support road safety measures.
Sri Lanka has recorded 1,849 fatal road accidents so far in 2026, eight more than during the corresponding period last year, Weerasooriya said. The number of road deaths has also increased by 16 compared with the same period in 2025.
He said pedestrians and motorcyclists remained the groups most affected by fatal road accidents.
Many pedestrian deaths involved people walking or standing along roadsides. Motorcycle fatalities, meanwhile, frequently occurred when riders collided with fixed objects or other roadside obstacles rather than with other vehicles, he said.
Road accidents remain a major concern in Sri Lanka. According to police statistics, the country recorded 2,562 fatal road accidents in 2025.