At least 27 Sri Lankan workers were injured one critically after their bus plunged down a precipice at Eyüpsultan in Istanbul on Friday, a senior official of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) said yesterday.
The Sri Lankans employed on a development project at the Istanbul airport, were returning after their day’s work shift when the Turkish driver apparently lost control of the vehicle and plunged down a six-metre precipice, Deputy General Manager, Training at the SLFEB, Senarath Yapa told the Sunday Observer.
He said that the SLFEB was in touch with the
Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey and local relief officials.
An Embassy official has already reached the Sri Lankans who had been moved into a regional hospital to look into their well- being and provide whatever assistance that is needed, Yapa said.
He said that the group comprised documented workers who had been registered with the SLFEB prior to their departure to Turkey.
At the time of the incident, there were 39 Sri Lankans travelling in the shuttle bus and a local official in Eyüpsultan was quoted in the local media as saying that the injuries sustained by the victims were not life threatening.
However, a full scale investigation has been launched on the accident to ascertain if the driver had fallen asleep while at the wheel, according to the latest reports.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office in Colombo in a media release yesterday stated that nine of the injured continue to remain in hospital for further medical treatment while the rest have been discharged.