SuttaCentral
I heard at Dana today, that 7 monks got killed in Sri Lanka because of a cable car accident. The rail snapped.
Let’s send out much metta, share our merits and the wish for them to reconnect with the Holy Triple Gem or that they are freed from Samsara already. 
This is tragic. Its gets worse. Apparently four bikkhus survived but are reported to be “in critical condition”. I hope they recover but its clearly grave.
I imagine many have visited the Na Uyana forest monastery and will be very upset.
Metta to all.
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.
https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=112890
Na Uyana (Lit: Garden of Nā Trees) is one of the largest and most famous meditation monasteries in Sri Lanka. Very popular among foreign monks.
EDIT: Somehow I completely missed @anom’s post
This is very sad news.
Oh wow, I remember that railway.
I stayed at Na Uyana for the Vassa in 2014 and was told the monks liked to ride it but had been forbidden. The monastery is built in an old timber plantation and the railway was built for moving logs, if I recall correctly. That must have been terrifying.
Very sad news indeed. My best friend used to be a monk there for many years (he disrobed like 3 years ago and is still alive). I hope the victims of the accident will either reach Nibbana at death or they get a good rebirth.
Funeral coverage. Lots of photos:
https://www.dailymirror.lk/caption-story/Na-Uyana-monks-final-rites-today/110-320696
More details about the cable car:
Eight Buddhist Monks Dead in Sri Lanka Cable Car Crash, Including Three Foreign Nationals
Eight Buddhist monks have died after a cable car in Sri Lanka’s northwestern Kurunegala District careened off its track on 24 September. Seven monks, including three foreign nationals, were killed instantly in the accident. Six others were taken to hospital, four in critical condition. Sri Lankan police later confirmed that one of the hospitalized monks, a Sri Lankan, succumbed to his injuries late on Saturday night. Police have described the incident as the country’s worst accident of its kind.
The crash occurred when a makeshift cable-pulled cabin carrying 13 monks plunged down a mountainside near Na Uyana Aranya Senasanaya, a forest monastery renowned for its meditation practice. Officials said the monks had been traveling to isolated meditation huts at the top of the mountain range when the accident took place…
Preliminary investigations indicate that the cable snapped while the cabin was in motion, sending it hurtling downhill at high speed before it derailed and struck a tree. The authorities are continuing to investigate the causes of the accident and whether safety regulations had been adequately observed.
