A group of Kiwis badly hurt in a Sri Lankan road crash have scrapped their wedding trip and are heading back to New Zealand for "proper" medical treatment.
A family of six New Zealanders were travelling through Sri Lanka on Monday when their vehicle hit another on the Colombo-Kandy Main Rd at Kalalpitiya, Nittambuwa.
They were passing through Sri Lanka to India, where they planned to attend a wedding.
However, they have had to scrap their plans due to the extent of their injuries, with another family member back in New Zealand saying the group are lucky to have escaped life-threatening damage.
According to the partner of one of the travellers, every member of the group is injured - including suspected broken bones and wounds requiring stitches.
"They have had to cut their trip short because they are all injured and do need to come home to get proper treatment. They're lucky they haven't had life-threatening injuries."They were going on a trip from Sri Lanka on to India and were going to be there for two weeks, coming back on February 13," the partner said, who requested anonymity.
"My partner, he has a really badly inured foot, they don't know if it's broken or not. He's got a cut on his forehead, multiple cuts on his arms needing stitches."
The partner said the family have opted not to take medical care in the sub-continent over quality concerns.
"The hospital in Sri Lanka wasn't exactly the best, they didn't have the facilities.
"They've done the best they could, they've still had to travel to Mumbai [India] so they can get a direct flight home to Auckland. There's no direct flights from Sri Lanka to Auckland, it would have been a 24-hour trip back.
"They are definitely not able to carry on with their trip."
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFat) said on Tuesday it had not received any requests for consular assistance after the crash. This afternoon an MFat spokesman was checking whether any consular assistance help had been sought or offered since then.
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