25.02.2008
By: Ranil Wijayapala
Police
spokesman Senior DIG N.K. Ilangakone said yesterday that
Police are inquiring as to who had first tipped off about
the bomb that exploded in a bus on Saturday injuring 18
people.
The
Police Spokesman said that the Police had taken a statement
from Ms. Indrani Fernando who claims that she first alerted
the commuters about the suspicious parcel and also informed
the conductor and the driver.
The
conductor of the bus claims it was another person called
Mervyn Fernando who tipped them off.
The
person who had tipped off about the bomb will definitely
be rewarded for their timely action, DIG Ilangakone added.
However,
Colonel Darshana Ratnayake, Security Advisor to the Ministry
of Transport told the Daily News that due to the action
taken by the conductor and the driver, many lives were
saved. ?If not for their timely action around 30 to 40
people would have been killed in the bomb explosion, Colonel
Ratnayake added.
Whatever
the claims made by anybody, if the driver had not taken
the bus to a safer place and evacuated passengers, the
incident would have created much more destruction and
loss of lives, Colonel Ratnayake added.
Therefore,
we should appreciate and admire the action taken by the
bus driver and the conductor who had set an example for
other bus crew members also,? he added.
He
said the incident, however, gives the impression that
the efforts taken by the Security Forces, Police and the
Transport Ministry have borne fruit and these systems
should be further improved as opportunities are very high
for the LTTE to explode bombs of this nature.
The
Transport Ministry will definitely reward the bus driver
and the conductor for their action, he added.
Courtesy - Daily
News