A Buddhist monk injured in a cable car crash in Sri Lanka died on Sunday, raising the death toll to eight in the worst accident of its kind, police said.

Seven monks, including three foreigners, were killed instantly when their cabin plunged down the mountainside near a forest monastery in the northwestern Kurunegala district on Wednesday night.

Six others had been taken to hospital for injuries, four in critical condition.

"One of the six monks in hospital succumbed to his injuries late last night," a police official told AFP.

He said the funerals of five monks -- four Sri Lankans and a Romanian -- were held on Saturday at a cemetery near their monastery.

A Russian monk is to be buried along with the Sri Lankan monk who died in hospital, a spokesperson for the monastery said.

He added that the remains of the third foreign monk, an Indian national, had been repatriated to his relatives in India.

The 13 monks had crowded into the small makeshift cabin as they headed to meditation units atop a mountain within the vast Na Uyana monastery.

Initial investigations suggested that the cable had snapped, sending the cabin careering downhill at high speed before it jumped the track and crashed into a tree.

The monastery is located 130 kilometres (81 miles) north-east of the capital, Colombo.

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