Sri Lanka Cable Car Crash Kills Seven Buddhist Monks, Including Foreigners

Seven Buddhist monks, including foreigners from India, Russia, and Romania, were killed in a cable car crash at Na Uyana Forest Monastery in Sri Lanka. Several others were injured in this tragic accident.

Colombo: Seven Buddhist monks, including three foreigners, were killed when their cable-pulled rail car snapped and crashed down a mountainside in north-western Sri Lanka, police said Thursday.

The victims were crowded into the small makeshift cabin as they headed to meditation units atop a mountain within the vast Na Uyana forest monastery late on Wednesday night, police said.

"There were 13 monks in the car. Two managed to escape with minor injuries, but four others are in a critical condition," a police official told AFP.

He said among the dead were monks from India, Russia and Romania.

Initial reports suggested that the cable had snapped, sending the rail car careering downhill at high speed before it jumped the track and crashed into a tree.

The monastery is located 130 kilometres (81 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed)