COLOMBO, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 44 others injured when their bus skidded off the road and plunged into a stream on Saturday in Ratnapura, a town in central Sri Lanka, police said.

The bus with 60 passengers aboard was heading for Colombo when the accident happened at 2 a.m. local time.

The injured were rushed to the local hospital. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the local police were conducting an investigation into the incident.

"As for the dead, one injured person died upon admission to the hospital. The other was found dead inside the bus after the accident," he said.

Around 2,000 people are killed in road crashes in Sri Lanka annually.