(AFP) — Sri Lanka police briefly detained a national cricketer after a fatal crash involving his car and a motorcycle on one of the most dangerous roads in the country.
Nuwan Kulasekara, 34, was on the A-1 highway when a motorcyclist travelling in the opposite direction hit a barrier dividing the lanes and crashed into the cricketer’s vehicle, police said.
“He was briefly held as part of routine investigations and released,” a police official at Kadawatha, 15 kilometres (10 miles) east of Colombo, said. “The motorcyclist succumbed to his injuries but there were no other casualties.”
There was no immediate comment from Kulasekara but a close associate told AFP he was shaken after the incident.
Police have deployed Buddhist monks to bless dangerous roads, including the A-1, to minimise accidents.
Around 2,700 people were killed last year on Sri Lanka’s roads, with about half the victims motorcyclists.