Tourist bus plunges 1,000ft off mountain road after crashing through guardrails - 15 dead

A passenger bus veered off a road and plunged into a precipice in a mountainous region in Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and injuring 16 others, a police spokesman said Friday.

The accident occurred near the town of Wellawaya, about 280 kilometers (174 miles) east of the capital Colombo, on Thursday night and the bus fell into a roughly 1,000-foot precipice, police spokesman Fredrick Wootler said.

As well as the 15 dead, 16 people, including five children, were injured in the horror fall. Police have confirmed that the group was made up of local tourists who had been visiting tea plantation hill towns.

Pictures show the aftermath of the fall, with the bus smashed up on the ground. The seats were destroyed while the roof was partially ripped off.

As reported by The Sun, it is believed the brake system on the bus failed. It then hit an oncoming vehicle which caused the fall.

According to a survivor who was on the bus, the driver shouted a warning to passengers before the crash. He urged them to get low and hold on tight before the bus crashed through the safety barriers.

The survivor recalled: "I was thrown out of the bus through a broken window."

Mr Wootler said it is likely the bus lost control after travelling at high speeds. A police investigation has now been launched to work out the circumstances of the crash.

Deadly bus crashes are common in the mountainous regions of Sri Lanka. They are often caused by reckless driving and poorly maintained, narrow roads.

In May, 23 passengers died after a bus crashed in Kotmale. The bus fell from the Nuwara Eliya-Gampola main road, in the Gerandi Ella region.

Pictures showed that the roof of the bus was ripped off following the fall. It sat overturned at the bottom of the mountainside.