Driver, conductor remanded for driving passenger bus on submerged road

Polonnaruwa Acting Magistrate Sandya Karunasekera on Saturday ordered the driver and conductor of a private bus to be remanded until 27 December for driving the bus with passengers when the road was flooded.

The private bus carrying 54 passengers was traveling from Maduru Oya to Colombo when it got swept away in floodwaters yesterday in the area between Manampitiya and Gallella on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa main road.

The magistrate remanded the driver and conductor when they were produced in court by the Polonnaruwa Police Traffic Division on a number of charges, including reckless driving and attempting to cause death by reckless conduct.

The driver of the private bus Ruwan Pushpakumara, a resident of No. 398, Polwatte Gedara, Polonnaruwa, Polonnaruwa and the conductor Rathnayaka Ralalage Asanka Prasad Ratnayake of Madawala Ulpatha, Matale were remanded.

Security forces and Police with the help of residents rescued the bus and all the passengers. No passenger was harmed in the incident.