COLOMBO, Sept 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Sri Lankan bus carrying local tourists visiting lush tea plantation hill towns plunged nearly 1,000 feet (300 metres), with the crash killing 15 people, police said Friday.

The accident took place on Thursday night in the mountainous Ella area, about 130 kilometres (81 miles) east of the capital. Sixteen others on board were injured.

The group was returning home after a holiday in the cooler hills when the bus hit another vehicle, crashed through guardrails and then shot over the side.

The accident is the worst since May, when 23 passengers died in a bus crash in Kotmale.

The island's winding roads are considered among the most dangerous in the world. Sri Lanka, a nation of 22 million people, records an average of 3,000 road fatalities each year.