Twenty-one killed as bus skids off cliff in Sri Lanka

Onlookers watch as rescue workers search the debris at the site of the bus crash. Picture: AP

A passenger bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing hill country on Sunday, killing 21 people and injuring at least 14 others.

The accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday in a mountainous area near the town of Kotmale, about 86 miles east of the capital Colombo.

Deputy minister of transport and highways Prasanna Gunasena confirmed the death toll and said those injured are being treated in hospital.

Local television showed the bus lying overturned at the bottom of a precipice while workers and others helped remove injured people from the rubble.

The driver was injured and among those admitted to hospital.

Nearly 50 people were on the bus, which was operated by a state-run travel company, at the time of the crash, police said.