3 killed, 14 injured in accident in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 16:09 GMT]
A lorry loaded with fertilizer bags on its way to Ooththuuchcheanai in Vadamunai from Vazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district Friday slipped off the road into a culvert on Velikkanthai main road killing three farmers and seriously injuring fourteen more, sources in Batticaloa said. The condition of Ooththuchcheanai-Vadamunai road, filled with pock marks and pot-holes due to persisting rains, was the cause of the accident, the sources said.

The victims killed were identified as V. Vadivel, 50, S. Sinarasa, 50 and Poobalapillai Panchadcharam, 65.

Panchadcharam succumbed to his injuries after admission to Polanaruwa hospital.

All the farmers are residents of Ooththuchcheanai.

The inured were transferred from Polanaruwa hospital to Kandy hospital for further treatment where they are admitted in the Intensive Care Unit.

The farmers were transporting 216 bags of fertilizer distributed by Vaazhaichcheanai Agricultural Productivity Centre to Vadamunai in a lorry they had hired.

Similar accidents had taken place three times on this road in 1990 and culvert had not been repaired despite several complaints to the authorities by the farmers.

Though the culvert had been temporarily repaired by ZOA organization in 2004 it had been again damaged.

The farmers who were resettled in their villages in 2008 had appealed many times to the relevant authorities to repair the said road but no action had been taken, the farmers said.